RT Journal Article
T1 The growth thresh- old conjecture: a theoretical framework for understanding T-cell tolerance
A1 Arias, Clemente F.
A1 Herrero García, Miguel Ángel
A1 Cuesta, José A.
A1 Acosta Salmerón, Francisco Javier
A1 Fernández Arias, Cristina
AB Adaptive immune responses depend on the capacity of T cells to target specific antigens. As similar antigens can be expressed by pathogens and host cells, the question naturally arises of how can T cells discriminate friends from foes. In this work, we suggest that T cells tolerate cells whose proliferation rates remain below a permitted threshold. Our proposal relies on well-established facts about T-cell dynamics during acute infections: T-cell populations are elastic (they expand and contract) and they display inertia (contraction is delayed relative to antigen removal). By modelling inertia and elasticity, we show that tolerance to slow-growing populations can emerge as a population-scale feature of T cells. This result suggests a theoretical framework to understand immune tolerance that goes beyond the self versus non-self dichotomy. It also accounts for currently unexplained observations, such as the paradoxical tolerance to slow-growing pathogens or the presence of self-reactive T cells in the organism.
PB The Royal Society
SN 2054-5703
YR 2015
FD 2015-07-08
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96049
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/96049
LA eng
NO Arias CF, Herrero MA, Cuesta JA, Acosta FJ, Fernández-Arias C. The growth threshold conjecture: a theoretical framework for understanding T-cell tolerance. R Soc Open Sci. 2015 Jul 8;2(7):150016. doi: 10.1098/rsos.150016. PMID: 26587263; PMCID: PMC4632576.
DS Docta Complutense
RD 6 abr 2025