Skip Navigation


Bioinformatics Advance Access originally published online on June 12, 2008
Bioinformatics 2008 24(15):1715-1721; doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/btn306
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (Print PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
24/15/1715    most recent
btn306v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Pappalardo, F.
Right arrow Articles by Motta, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Pappalardo, F.
Right arrow Articles by Motta, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Modeling immune system control of atherogenesis

Francesco Pappalardo 1,2,*, Salvatore Musumeci 3 and Santo Motta 2

1Faculty of Pharmacy, 2Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Catania, Catania, Italy and 3Department of Pharmacology, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Pediatrics, University of Sassari and Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, National Research Council (CNR), Li Punti (SS), Italy

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.


  Abstract

Motivation: Atherosclerosis is a disease that is present in almost all humans, typically beginning in early adolescence. It is a human disease broadly investigated, that is amenable to quantitative analysis. Oxidized low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) and their autoantibodies are involved in the development of atherosclerosis in animal models, but their role in humans is still not clear. Computer models may represent a virtual environment to perform experiments not possible in human volunteers that can provide a useful instrument for monitoring both the evolution of atherosclerotic lesions and to quantify the efficacy of treatments, including vaccines, oriented to reduce the LDLs and their oxidized fraction.

Results: We report the application of an agent-based model to model both the immune response to atherogenesis and the atheromatous plaque progression in a generic artery wall. The level of oxidized LDLs, the immune humoral response with production of autoantibodies, the macrophages activity and the formation of foam cells are in good agreement with available clinical data, including the formation of atheromatous plaques in patients affected by hypercholesterolemia.

Availability: The model is available at http://www.immunogrid.eu/atherogenesis/

Contact: francesco{at}dmi.unict.it

Associate Editor: Thomas Lengauer

Received on February 25, 2008; revised on May 8, 2008; accepted on June 10, 2008

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Phil Trans R Soc AHome page
M. D. Halling-Brown, D. S. Moss, C. E. Sansom, and A. J. Shepherd
A computational Grid framework for immunological applications
Phil Trans R Soc A, July 13, 2009; 367(1898): 2705 - 2716.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 dmphpHome page
S. W. Smith, I. Portelli, G. Narzisi, L. S. Nelson, F. Menges, E. D. Rekow, J. S. Mincer, B. Mishra, and L. R. Goldfrank
A Novel Approach to Multihazard Modeling and Simulation
Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness, June 1, 2009; 3(2): 75 - 87.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Brief BioinformHome page
F. Pappalardo, M. D. Halling-Brown, N. Rapin, P. Zhang, D. Alemani, A. Emerson, P. Paci, P. Duroux, M. Pennisi, A. Palladini, et al.
ImmunoGrid, an integrative environment for large-scale simulation of the immune system for vaccine discovery, design and optimization
Brief Bioinform, May 1, 2009; 10(3): 330 - 340.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.