Modelling the Immune System: ODE Model of Terminal Differentiation of B Cells in Julia
Published:
The germinal center (GC) exit pathway, whose mechanisms are critical for understanding the immune response, was modeled as a system of ordinary differential equations. The system was first decomposed into two relevant subnetworks, and steady state analysis of key transcription factors relevant for the terminal differentiation of naive GC B cells to short term immune response plasma cells (PCs) or long term immune response memory B cells (MBCs) was performed. Associated bifurcation analyses and system phase spaces were used to elucidate the conditions under which the differentia- tion of naive GC B cells (aka centroblasts) to MBCs or PCs occurred. The model and subsequent analyses was implemented in Julia