Agent-based modeling of the interaction between CD8(+) T cells and Beta cells in type 1 diabetes

Authored by Ali Cinar, Mustafa Cagdas Ozturk, Qian Xu

Date Published: 2018

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190349

Sponsors: United States National Science Foundation (NSF)

Platforms: Repast

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

We propose an agent-based model for the simulation of the autoimmune response in T1D. The model incorporates cell behavior from various rules derived from the current literature and is implemented on a high-performance computing system, which enables the simulation of a significant portion of the islets in the mouse pancreas. Simulation results indicate that the model is able to capture the trends that emerge during the progression of the autoimmunity. The multi-scale nature of the model enables definition of rules or equations that govern cellular or sub-cellular level phenomena and observation of the outcomes at the tissue scale. It is expected that such a model would facilitate in vivo clinical studies through rapid testing of hypotheses and planning of future experiments by providing insight into disease progression at different scales, some of which may not be obtained easily in clinical studies. Furthermore, the modular structure of the model simplifies tasks such as the addition of new cell types, and the definition or modification of different behaviors of the environment and the cells with ease.

Tags

proliferation differentiation progression lymphocytes disease Effector Life-span Mass Mouse Onset