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Abstract
Autoimmune diseases damage host tissue, which, in turn, may trigger a stronger immune response. Systems characterized by such positive feedback loops can display co-existing stable steady states. In a mathematical model of autoimmune disease, one steady state may correspond to the healthy state and another to an autoimmune steady state characterized by widespread tissue damage and immune activation. We show how a triggering event may move the system from the healthy to the autoimmune state and how transient immunosuppressive treatment can move the system back to the healthy state.
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Declaration of interest: This work was supported by the European Community under the contract FP6-2004-IST-4, No. 028069 (ImmunoGrid) and the European Union through the Network of Excellence BioSim, contract number LSHB-CT-2004-001537 (BioSim). The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.