The IL-2/IL-2Ralpha (CD25) axis is of central importance for the interplay of effector and regulatory T cells. Nevertheless, the question how different antigen loads are translated into appropriate IL-2 production to ensure adequate responses against pathogens remains largely unexplored. Here we find that at single cell level, IL-2 is binary (digital) and CD25 is graded expressed whereas at pop...

Introduction: Staffs of operating room are continuously exposed to anesthetic gases and                                                       ionizing radiation. Adaptive response, as a defense mechanism, will occur when cells become exposed to a low dose of factors harming DNA that causes in the next exposures to higher doses o...

A key observation about the human immune response to repeated exposure to influenza A is that the first strain infecting an individual apparently produces the strongest adaptive immune response. Although antibody titers measure that response, the interpretation of titers to multiple strains--from the same sera--in terms of infection history is clouded by age effects, cross reactivity and immune...

We exploit a simple model to numerically and analytically investigate the effect of enforcing a time constraint for achieving a system-wide goal during an evolutionary dynamics. This situation is relevant to finding antibody specificities in the adaptive immune response as well as to artificial situations in which an evolutionary dynamics is used to generate a desired capability in a limited nu...

The adaptive responses of crop genotypes and patterns of genotype x location (G x L) interaction are important to crop improvement as they are the basis for selection for specific adaptation and for elucidation of the causes of G x L interaction. Their legitimate assessment, however, requires yield data for the test genotypes for a large number of sites and over multiple years. Such data are se...

The immune system consists of an intricate network of organs, cells, and molecules responsible for maintaining the body's homeostasis and responding to aggression in general. Innate immunity operates in conjunction with adaptive immunity and is characterized by rapid response to aggression, regardless of previous stimulus, being the organism first line of defense. Its mechanisms include physica...

Cathelicidins are a family of host defence peptides that are known to selectively alter innate immunity in response to infection and other changes in immune status. A study in this issue of the European Journal of Immunology elucidates a new role for mouse cathelin-related antimicrobial peptide in the adaptive immune response by clearly demonstrating for the first time that a cathelicidin can a...