Immune status of the organism: Synergism and antagonism of effector and suppressor lymphocyte populations. A mathematical study

We have constructed hierarchical models of the immune system that include parameters of various levels of biosystem organization — subcellular, cellular, and tissue level. The models allow for various mechanisms of regulation, by interleukin-2, BAS, and Ca2+ ions, of processes responsible for activating the synthesis of various lymphocyte populations and for the switch from proliferation to differentiation and back. We have considered the control loop associated with cyclic nucleotides and phosphorylation of membranes, which makes it possible to allow for the effect of the energy regime of cellular systems on synergism and antagonism of different compartments in the immune system. The introduction of these control loops has enabled us to replicate the results of simpler models [3], i.e., to elucidate the existence of self-oscillations in the interaction of the immune system with Ag and to investigate a number of fundamentally new mechanisms controlling the synchronization of different lymphocyte populations. This approach also has enabled us to formalize the ISO, to define a group of parameters that can be used for assessing the balance of different links in the immune system and acting efficiently on the immune system, to explain in the context of the mechanisms analyzed the action of some therapeutic preparations and to justify theoretically the currently popular therapeutic principles of ISO correction.