Autoimmunity arising from bystander proliferation of T cells in an immune response model

Abstract

We study a mathematical model of immune response by T cells where the regulatory T cells (Treg) inhibit interleukin 2 secretion. The bystander proliferation to an immune response is modelled. We consider an asymmetry reflecting that the difference between the growth and death rates can be higher for the active T cells and Tregs than for the inactive. This asymmetry leads to a better understanding of the bystander proliferation. An exposure to a pathogen results in an increased proliferation rate of the bystander T cells. If the population of the bystander T cells becomes large enough, autoimmunity can arise, eventually after a long transient period.