Simulating Immune Interference on the Effect of a Bivalent Glycoconjugate Vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae Serotypes “a” and “b”

Figure 1

The biological model of humoral immune response. The model includes antigens (Ag), antibodies (Ab); naïve B cells (), stimulated B cells (), activated B cells (), and proliferating B cells (B₁–B₈); immune complexes (IC); memory B cells (M); plasma cells (P); and T helper cells (). Arrows show the transitions between biological states. The dashed-line arrows show multistep processes involved in the biological mechanisms. Naïve B cells are stimulated at the rate (through antigen interaction) and activated at the rate (through T cell interaction). Proliferation of activated B cells occurs after activation for 8 divisions, leading to the production of plasma and memory B cells. Plasma cells produce antibodies at the rate . Memory cells can be stimulated and activated at the rates and , respectively, in the presence of free antigen peptides and enter the proliferation process. Parameter values for simulating this biological model are presented in Table 1.