Sequence Space Localization in the Immune System Response to Vaccination and Disease
arXiv:cond-mat/0308613 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.068101
Abstract
We introduce a model of protein evolution to explain limitations in the immune system response to vaccination and disease. The phenomenon of original antigenic sin, wherein vaccination creates memory sequences that can \emph{increase} susceptibility to future exposures to the same disease, is explained as stemming from localization of the immune system response in antibody sequence space. This localization is a result of the roughness in sequence space of the evolved antibody affinity constant for antigen and is observed for diseases with high year-to-year mutation rates, such as influenza.
5 pages, 2 figures