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Laubenbacher R, Adler F, An G, Castiglione F, Eubank S, Fonseca LL, Glazier J, Helikar T, Jett-Tilton M, Kirschner D, Macklin P, Mehrad B, Moore B, Pasour V, Shmulevich I, Smith A, Voigt I, Yankeelov TE, Ziemssen T. Toward mechanistic medical digital twins: some use cases in immunology. Front Digit Health 2024; 6:1349595. [PMID: 38515550 PMCID: PMC10955144 DOI: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1349595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
A fundamental challenge for personalized medicine is to capture enough of the complexity of an individual patient to determine an optimal way to keep them healthy or restore their health. This will require personalized computational models of sufficient resolution and with enough mechanistic information to provide actionable information to the clinician. Such personalized models are increasingly referred to as medical digital twins. Digital twin technology for health applications is still in its infancy, and extensive research and development is required. This article focuses on several projects in different stages of development that can lead to specific-and practical-medical digital twins or digital twin modeling platforms. It emerged from a two-day forum on problems related to medical digital twins, particularly those involving an immune system component. Open access video recordings of the forum discussions are available.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Fred Adler
- Department of Mathematics and School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake, UT, United States
| | - Gary An
- Department of Surgery, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States
| | - Filippo Castiglione
- Biotechnology Research Center, Technology Innovation Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
| | - Stephen Eubank
- Biocomplexity Institute and Initiative, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, United States
| | - Luis L. Fonseca
- Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - James Glazier
- Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Tomas Helikar
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, United States
| | - Marti Jett-Tilton
- U.S. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD, United States
| | - Denise Kirschner
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Paul Macklin
- Department of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
| | - Borna Mehrad
- Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States
| | - Beth Moore
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Virginia Pasour
- U.S. Army Research Office, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States
| | | | - Amber Smith
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States
| | - Isabel Voigt
- Center for Clinical Neuroscience, Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital, Dresden, Germany
| | - Thomas E. Yankeelov
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, Austin, TX, United States
- Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Diagnostic Medicine, Oncology, The University of Texas, Austin, TX, United States
- Department of Imaging Physics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Tjalf Ziemssen
- Center for Clinical Neuroscience, Carl Gustav Carus University Hospital, Dresden, Germany
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Meyer L, Ribot M, Yvinec R. A Lifshitz-Slyozov type model for adipocyte size dynamics: limit from Becker-Döring system and numerical simulation. J Math Biol 2024; 88:16. [PMID: 38231273 DOI: 10.1007/s00285-023-02036-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2024]
Abstract
Biological data show that the size distribution of adipose cells follows a bimodal distribution. In this work, we introduce a Lifshitz-Slyozov type model, based on a transport partial differential equation, for the dynamics of the size distribution of adipose cells. We prove a new convergence result from the related Becker-Döring model, a system composed of several ordinary differential equations, toward mild solutions of the Lifshitz-Slyozov model using distribution tail techniques. Then, this result allows us to propose a new advective-diffusive model, the second-order diffusive Lifshitz-Slyozov model, which is expected to better fit the experimental data. Numerical simulations of the solutions to the diffusive Lifshitz-Slyozov model are performed using a well-balanced scheme and compared to solutions to the transport model. Those simulations show that both bimodal and unimodal profiles can be reached asymptotically depending on several parameters. We put in evidence that the asymptotic profile for the second-order system does not depend on initial conditions, unlike for the transport Lifshitz-Slyozov model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léo Meyer
- Institut Denis Poisson, Université d'Orléans, Orléans, France.
| | - Magali Ribot
- Institut Denis Poisson, Université d'Orléans, Orléans, France
| | - Romain Yvinec
- Inria, Centre Inria de Saclay, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France
- PRC, INRAE, CNRS, Université de Tours, Nouzilly, France
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Mestre Font M, Busquets-Cortés C, Ramírez-Manent JI, Tomás-Gil P, Paublini H, López-González ÁA. Influence of Sociodemographic Variables and Healthy Habits on the Values of Insulin Resistance Indicators in 386,924 Spanish Workers. Nutrients 2023; 15:5122. [PMID: 38140381 PMCID: PMC10746000 DOI: 10.3390/nu15245122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Insulin resistance (IR) is an alteration of the action of insulin in cells, which do not respond adequately to this action, leading to an increase in blood glucose levels. IR produces a very diverse clinical picture and increases the cardiometabolic risk of the population that suffers from it. Among the factors that influence IR are genetics, unhealthy lifestyle habits, overweight, and obesity. The objective of this work was to determine how different sociodemographic variables and healthy habits influence the values of different scales that assess the risk of presenting IR in a group of Spanish workers. METHODS An observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out in 386,924 workers from different Spanish regions. Different sociodemographic variables and lifestyle habits were studied (age, social class, educational level, smoking, Mediterranean diet, physical exercise) along with their association with four scales to evaluate the risk of insulin resistance (TyG index, TyG-BMI, METS-IR, TG/HDL-c). To analyse the quantitative variables, Student's t test was used, while the Chi-squared test was used for the qualitative variables. A multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed, calculating the odds ratio with its 95% confidence intervals. The accepted level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS In the multivariate analysis, all variables, except educational level, increased the risk of presenting high values on the IR risk scales, especially a sedentary lifestyle and low adherence to the Mediterranean diet. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate an association between the practice of regular physical exercise and a reduction in the risk of IR; a strong role of the Mediterranean diet as a protective factor for IR; an association between aging and increased IR, which has also been suggested in other studies; and, finally, a relationship between a low socioeconomic level and an increase in IR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Mestre Font
- ADEMA-Health Group, Instituto Universitario en Ciencias de la Salud, University of Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain; (M.M.F.); (C.B.-C.); (P.T.-G.); (H.P.); (Á.A.L.-G.)
| | - Carla Busquets-Cortés
- ADEMA-Health Group, Instituto Universitario en Ciencias de la Salud, University of Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain; (M.M.F.); (C.B.-C.); (P.T.-G.); (H.P.); (Á.A.L.-G.)
| | - José Ignacio Ramírez-Manent
- ADEMA-Health Group, Instituto Universitario en Ciencias de la Salud, University of Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain; (M.M.F.); (C.B.-C.); (P.T.-G.); (H.P.); (Á.A.L.-G.)
- Familiy Medicine, Balearic Islands Health Service, 07003 Palma, Spain
| | - Pilar Tomás-Gil
- ADEMA-Health Group, Instituto Universitario en Ciencias de la Salud, University of Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain; (M.M.F.); (C.B.-C.); (P.T.-G.); (H.P.); (Á.A.L.-G.)
| | - Hernán Paublini
- ADEMA-Health Group, Instituto Universitario en Ciencias de la Salud, University of Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain; (M.M.F.); (C.B.-C.); (P.T.-G.); (H.P.); (Á.A.L.-G.)
| | - Ángel Arturo López-González
- ADEMA-Health Group, Instituto Universitario en Ciencias de la Salud, University of Balearic Islands, 07122 Palma, Spain; (M.M.F.); (C.B.-C.); (P.T.-G.); (H.P.); (Á.A.L.-G.)
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Herrgårdh T, Simonsson C, Ekstedt M, Lundberg P, Stenkula KG, Nyman E, Gennemark P, Cedersund G. A multi-scale digital twin for adiposity-driven insulin resistance in humans: diet and drug effects. Diabetol Metab Syndr 2023; 15:250. [PMID: 38044443 PMCID: PMC10694923 DOI: 10.1186/s13098-023-01223-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The increased prevalence of insulin resistance is one of the major health risks in society today. Insulin resistance involves both short-term dynamics, such as altered meal responses, and long-term dynamics, such as the development of type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance also occurs on different physiological levels, ranging from disease phenotypes to organ-organ communication and intracellular signaling. To better understand the progression of insulin resistance, an analysis method is needed that can combine different timescales and physiological levels. One such method is digital twins, consisting of combined mechanistic mathematical models. We have previously developed a model for short-term glucose homeostasis and intracellular insulin signaling, and there exist long-term weight regulation models. Herein, we combine these models into a first interconnected digital twin for the progression of insulin resistance in humans. METHODS The model is based on ordinary differential equations representing biochemical and physiological processes, in which unknown parameters were fitted to data using a MATLAB toolbox. RESULTS The interconnected twin correctly predicts independent data from a weight increase study, both for weight-changes, fasting plasma insulin and glucose levels, and intracellular insulin signaling. Similarly, the model can predict independent weight-change data in a weight loss study with the weight loss drug topiramate. The model can also predict non-measured variables. CONCLUSIONS The model presented herein constitutes the basis for a new digital twin technology, which in the future could be used to aid medical pedagogy and increase motivation and compliance and thus aid in the prevention and treatment of insulin resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tilda Herrgårdh
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Christian Simonsson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Mattias Ekstedt
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- Department of Health, Medicine, and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Peter Lundberg
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- Department of Health, Medicine, and Caring Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- Department of Radiation Physics, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Karin G Stenkula
- Department of Experimental Medical Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Elin Nyman
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Peter Gennemark
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
- Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Research and Early Development, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM), AstraZeneca, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Gunnar Cedersund
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
- Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
- School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
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Hashim KN, Chin KY, Ahmad F. The Mechanism of Kelulut Honey in Reversing Metabolic Changes in Rats Fed with High-Carbohydrate High-Fat Diet. Molecules 2023; 28:2790. [PMID: 36985762 PMCID: PMC10056699 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28062790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 03/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is composed of central obesity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia and hypertension that increase an individual's tendency to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. Kelulut honey (KH) produced by stingless bee species has a rich phenolic profile. Recent studies have demonstrated that KH could suppress components of MetS, but its mechanisms of action are unknown. A total of 18 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control rats (C group) (n = 6), MetS rats fed with a high carbohydrate high fat (HCHF) diet (HCHF group) (n = 6), and MetS rats fed with HCHF diet and treated with KH (HCHF + KH group) (n = 6). The HCHF + KH group received 1.0 g/kg/day KH via oral gavage from week 9 to 16 after HCHF diet initiation. Compared to the C group, the MetS group experienced a significant increase in body weight, body mass index, systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), serum triglyceride (TG) and leptin, as well as the area and perimeter of adipocyte cells at the end of the study. The MetS group also experienced a significant decrease in serum HDL levels versus the C group. KH supplementation reversed the changes in serum TG, HDL, leptin, adiponectin and corticosterone levels, SBP, DBP, as well as adipose tissue 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11βHSD1) level, area and perimeter at the end of the study. In addition, histological observations also showed that KH administration reduced fat deposition within hepatocytes, and prevented deterioration of pancreatic islet and renal glomerulus. In conclusion, KH is effective in preventing MetS by suppressing leptin, corticosterone and 11βHSD1 levels while elevating adiponectin levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khairun-Nisa Hashim
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
| | - Kok-Yong Chin
- Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia;
| | - Fairus Ahmad
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
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Olenick AA, Pearson RC, Shaker N, Blankenship MM, Tinius RA, Winchester LJ, Oregon E, Maples JM. African American Females Are Less Metabolically Flexible Compared with Caucasian American Females following a Single High-Fat Meal: A Pilot Study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:12913. [PMID: 36232212 PMCID: PMC9566281 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph191912913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The relationship between metabolic flexibility (MF) and components of metabolic disease has not been well-studied among African American (AA) females and may play a role in the higher incidence of chronic disease among them compared with Caucasian American (CA) females. This pilot study aimed to compare the metabolic response of AA and CA females after a high-fat meal. Eleven AA (25.6 (5.6) y, 27.2 (6.0) kg/m2, 27.5 (9.7) % body fat) and twelve CA (26.5 (1.5) y, 25.7 (5.3) kg/m2, 25.0 (7.4) % body fat) women free of cardiovascular and metabolic disease and underwent a high-fat meal challenge (55.9% fat). Lipid oxidation, insulin, glucose, and interleukin (IL)-8 were measured fasted, 2 and 4 h postprandial. AA females had a significantly lower increase in lipid oxidation from baseline to 2 h postprandial (p = 0.022), and trended lower at 4 h postprandial (p = 0.081) compared with CA females, indicating worse MF. No group differences in insulin, glucose or HOMA-IR were detected. IL-8 was significantly higher in AA females compared with CA females at 2 and 4 h postprandial (p = 0.016 and p = 0.015, respectively). These findings provide evidence of metabolic and inflammatory disparities among AA females compared with CA females that could serve as a predictor of chronic disease in individuals with a disproportionately higher risk of development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa A. Olenick
- Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Regis C. Pearson
- Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
| | - Nuha Shaker
- Department of Pathology and Lab Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
| | - Maire M. Blankenship
- School of Nursing and Allied Health, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
| | - Rachel A. Tinius
- School of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
| | - Lee J. Winchester
- Department of Kinesiology, College of Education, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
| | - Evie Oregon
- School of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA
| | - Jill M. Maples
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, TN 37920, USA
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Martínez-García M, Hernández-Lemus E. Periodontal Inflammation and Systemic Diseases: An Overview. Front Physiol 2021; 12:709438. [PMID: 34776994 PMCID: PMC8578868 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.709438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 35.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Periodontitis is a common inflammatory disease of infectious origins that often evolves into a chronic condition. Aside from its importance as a stomatologic ailment, chronic periodontitis has gained relevance since it has been shown that it can develop into a systemic condition characterized by unresolved hyper-inflammation, disruption of the innate and adaptive immune system, dysbiosis of the oral, gut and other location's microbiota and other system-wide alterations that may cause, coexist or aggravate other health issues associated to elevated morbi-mortality. The relationships between the infectious, immune, inflammatory, and systemic features of periodontitis and its many related diseases are far from being fully understood and are indeed still debated. However, to date, a large body of evidence on the different biological, clinical, and policy-enabling sources of information, is available. The aim of the present work is to summarize many of these sources of information and contextualize them under a systemic inflammation framework that may set the basis to an integral vision, useful for basic, clinical, and therapeutic goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mireya Martínez-García
- Sociomedical Research Unit, National Institute of Cardiology "Ignacio Chávez", Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Enrique Hernández-Lemus
- Computational Genomics Division, National Institute of Genomic Medicine (INMEGEN), Mexico City, Mexico.,Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mèxico, Mexico City, Mexico
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Stolfi P, Castiglione F. Emulating complex simulations by machine learning methods. BMC Bioinformatics 2021; 22:483. [PMID: 34772335 PMCID: PMC8588594 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-021-04354-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of the present paper is to construct an emulator of a complex biological system simulator using a machine learning approach. More specifically, the simulator is a patient-specific model that integrates metabolic, nutritional, and lifestyle data to predict the metabolic and inflammatory processes underlying the development of type-2 diabetes in absence of familiarity. Given the very high incidence of type-2 diabetes, the implementation of this predictive model on mobile devices could provide a useful instrument to assess the risk of the disease for aware individuals. The high computational cost of the developed model, being a mixture of agent-based and ordinary differential equations and providing a dynamic multivariate output, makes the simulator executable only on powerful workstations but not on mobile devices. Hence the need to implement an emulator with a reduced computational cost that can be executed on mobile devices to provide real-time self-monitoring. RESULTS Similarly to our previous work, we propose an emulator based on a machine learning algorithm but here we consider a different approach which turn out to have better performances, indeed in terms of root mean square error we have an improvement of two order magnitude. We tested the proposed emulator on samples containing different number of simulated trajectories, and it turned out that the fitted trajectories are able to predict with high accuracy the entire dynamics of the simulator output variables. We apply the emulator to control the level of inflammation while leveraging on the nutritional input. CONCLUSION The proposed emulator can be implemented and executed on mobile health devices to perform quick-and-easy self-monitoring assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Stolfi
- Institute for Applied Computing, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy.
| | - Filippo Castiglione
- Institute for Applied Computing, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
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Castiglione F, Deb D, Srivastava AP, Liò P, Liso A. From Infection to Immunity: Understanding the Response to SARS-CoV2 Through In-Silico Modeling. Front Immunol 2021; 12:646972. [PMID: 34557181 PMCID: PMC8453017 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.646972] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Immune system conditions of the patient is a key factor in COVID-19 infection survival. A growing number of studies have focused on immunological determinants to develop better biomarkers for therapies. Aim Studies of the insurgence of immunity is at the core of both SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development and therapies. This paper attempts to describe the insurgence (and the span) of immunity in COVID-19 at the population level by developing an in-silico model. We simulate the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 and analyze the impact of infecting viral load, affinity to the ACE2 receptor, and age in an artificially infected population on the course of the disease. Methods We use a stochastic agent-based immune simulation platform to construct a virtual cohort of infected individuals with age-dependent varying degrees of immune competence. We use a parameter set to reproduce known inter-patient variability and general epidemiological statistics. Results By assuming the viremia at day 30 of the infection to be the proxy for lethality, we reproduce in-silico several clinical observations and identify critical factors in the statistical evolution of the infection. In particular, we evidence the importance of the humoral response over the cytotoxic response and find that the antibody titers measured after day 25 from the infection are a prognostic factor for determining the clinical outcome of the infection. Our modeling framework uses COVID-19 infection to demonstrate the actionable effectiveness of modeling the immune response at individual and population levels. The model developed can explain and interpret observed patterns of infection and makes verifiable temporal predictions. Within the limitations imposed by the simulated environment, this work proposes quantitatively that the great variability observed in the patient outcomes in real life can be the mere result of subtle variability in the infecting viral load and immune competence in the population. In this work, we exemplify how computational modeling of immune response provides an important view to discuss hypothesis and design new experiments, in particular paving the way to further investigations about the duration of vaccine-elicited immunity especially in the view of the blundering effect of immunosenescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filippo Castiglione
- Institute for Applied Computing (IAC), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Rome, Italy
| | - Debashrito Deb
- Department of Biochemistry, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bangalore, India
| | | | - Pietro Liò
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Arcangelo Liso
- Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
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11
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Stolfi P, Valentini I, Palumbo MC, Tieri P, Grignolio A, Castiglione F. Potential predictors of type-2 diabetes risk: machine learning, synthetic data and wearable health devices. BMC Bioinformatics 2020; 21:508. [PMID: 33308172 PMCID: PMC7733701 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-020-03763-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aim of a recent research project was the investigation of the mechanisms involved in the onset of type 2 diabetes in the absence of familiarity. This has led to the development of a computational model that recapitulates the aetiology of the disease and simulates the immunological and metabolic alterations linked to type-2 diabetes subjected to clinical, physiological, and behavioural features of prototypical human individuals. RESULTS We analysed the time course of 46,170 virtual subjects, experiencing different lifestyle conditions. We then set up a statistical model able to recapitulate the simulated outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The resulting machine learning model adequately predicts the synthetic dataset and can, therefore, be used as a computationally-cheaper version of the detailed mathematical model, ready to be implemented on mobile devices to allow self-assessment by informed and aware individuals. The computational model used to generate the dataset of this work is available as a web-service at the following address: http://kraken.iac.rm.cnr.it/T2DM .
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Stolfi
- Institute for Applied Mathematics, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | | | | | - Paolo Tieri
- Institute for Applied Mathematics, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Grignolio
- Research Ethics and Integrity Interdepartmental Center, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
- Medical Humanities - International MD Program, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy
| | - Filippo Castiglione
- Institute for Applied Mathematics, National Research Council of Italy, Rome, Italy
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12
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Barrera M, Hiriart M, Cocho G, Villarreal C. Type 2 diabetes progression: A regulatory network approach. CHAOS (WOODBURY, N.Y.) 2020; 30:093132. [PMID: 33003944 DOI: 10.1063/5.0011125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In order to elucidate central elements underlying type 2 diabetes, we constructed a regulatory network model involving 37 components (molecules, receptors, processes, etc.) associated to signaling pathways of pancreatic beta-cells. In a first approximation, the network topology was described by Boolean rules whose interacting dynamics predicted stationary patterns broadly classified as health, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes stages. A subsequent approximation based on a continuous logic analysis allowed us to characterize the progression of the disease as transitions between these states associated to alterations of cell homeostasis due to exhaustion or exacerbation of specific regulatory signals. The method allowed the identification of key transcription factors involved in metabolic stress as essential for the progression of the disease. Integration of the present analysis with existent mathematical models designed to yield accurate account of experimental data in human or animal essays leads to reliable predictions for beta-cell mass, insulinemia, glycemia, and glycosylated hemoglobin in diabetic fatty rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Barrera
- Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - M Hiriart
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - G Cocho
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - C Villarreal
- Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
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