A unified discrete model of immune response.

ABSTRACT

In this paper we propose a unified model of immune response in terms of discrete automata describing the concentrations of the cells constituting the immune network. The model of normal immune response proposed by Kaufman, Urbain and Thomas and that of auto-immune response proposed by Weisbuch, Atlan and Cohen are special cases of this unified model. Moreover, this model also describes the immune response in patients infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that is known to cause Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).