2009 Math Biology Seminar - 05
- Date: 02/19/2009
University of British Columbia
Investigating the role of IGRP-specific low avidity T cells in the
protection against T1D
Recent experimental observations have revealed that during the onset of
autoimmune Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), different clones of T cells with
various T cell avidities and protein specificities are naturally
generated in diabetic animal models. One particular protein, IGRP, is
considered to be the most dominant autoantigen, responsible for
activating low and high avidity IGRP-specific T cells via APCs.
Although high avidity T cells destroy ~90% of beta cell repertoire,
leading to the abolishment of insulin secretion crucial for glucose
metabolism, low avidity T cells appear to play a protective role.
Several hypotheses concerning the kinetics of these low avidity T cells
and the effects of certain drug treatments on this populations have
been suggested. In this talk, we shall present series of mathematical
models that investigate these hypotheses and the outcome of certain
drug treatments. We shall examine the experimental data available so
far and explain certain features exhibited by the various clones of T
cells.
2:00pm, WMAX 216
