Russian Scientists Develop Mathematical Model to Advance Autoimmune Disease Research
Researchers from Sechenov University, the Institute of Numerical Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and SimurgPharm have developed a mathematical model that describes how the immune system's B-cell response functions. The findings were published in Frontiers in Immunology.
Under normal conditions, B cells protect the body against viruses and bacteria. In autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and multiple sclerosis, however, they begin attacking the body's own tissues. The new model captures the entire B-cell life cycle and, for the first time, integrates previously fragmented experimental data into a unified framework. The researchers found that two factors have the greatest influence on the immune response: a B cell's first encounter with an antigen and the microenvironment of the bone marrow.
According to Kirill Peskov, head of the Center for Mathematical Modeling in Drug Development at Sechenov University, developers of autoimmune therapies often find that the same drug produces different outcomes in different patients. The new model helps explain the biological mechanisms behind that variability and enables researchers to account for them during the planning of clinical trials. In the long term, it could accelerate the development of new therapies while reducing the need for lengthy and costly laboratory experiments.
