The dynamics of the granuloma formation in the tuberculosis immune response
Abstract Book of the XXIII IUPAP International Conference on Statistical Physics, Genova, Italy, (9-13 July 2007)Abstract
Tuberculosis is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), an aerobic bacterium that infects mainly pulmonary macrophages. The specific immune response to the Mtb results in the granuloma formation, a structure built by immune cells at the site of infection. The granuloma role is to inhibit the spread of the bacteria in the lungs by controlling its replication. Despite all the efforts made up now to understand the dynamics of the granuloma formation, the mechanisms underlying its growth and maintenance are still unknown. Here we introduce a discrete mathematical model to describe the granuloma formation in mice taking into account the main cells involved in the immune response to the Mtb 1,2, as well as the influence of chemokines and cytokines signaling on the process. This model is able to reproduce the three distinct dynamics observed in nature: elimination, containment and dissemination of the bacteria. It is also able to reproduce qualitative and quantitative experimental results, concerning the growth of bacteria and the increase of the number of immune cells during the process, obtained from experiments with mice.
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