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Haase M, Comlekoglu T, Petrucciani A, Peirce SM, Blemker SS. Agent-based model demonstrates the impact of nonlinear, complex interactions between cytokinces on muscle regeneration. eLife 2024; 13:RP91924. [PMID: 38828844 PMCID: PMC11147512 DOI: 10.7554/elife.91924] [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] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Muscle regeneration is a complex process due to dynamic and multiscale biochemical and cellular interactions, making it difficult to identify microenvironmental conditions that are beneficial to muscle recovery from injury using experimental approaches alone. To understand the degree to which individual cellular behaviors impact endogenous mechanisms of muscle recovery, we developed an agent-based model (ABM) using the Cellular-Potts framework to simulate the dynamic microenvironment of a cross-section of murine skeletal muscle tissue. We referenced more than 100 published studies to define over 100 parameters and rules that dictate the behavior of muscle fibers, satellite stem cells (SSCs), fibroblasts, neutrophils, macrophages, microvessels, and lymphatic vessels, as well as their interactions with each other and the microenvironment. We utilized parameter density estimation to calibrate the model to temporal biological datasets describing cross-sectional area (CSA) recovery, SSC, and fibroblast cell counts at multiple timepoints following injury. The calibrated model was validated by comparison of other model outputs (macrophage, neutrophil, and capillaries counts) to experimental observations. Predictions for eight model perturbations that varied cell or cytokine input conditions were compared to published experimental studies to validate model predictive capabilities. We used Latin hypercube sampling and partial rank correlation coefficient to identify in silico perturbations of cytokine diffusion coefficients and decay rates to enhance CSA recovery. This analysis suggests that combined alterations of specific cytokine decay and diffusion parameters result in greater fibroblast and SSC proliferation compared to individual perturbations with a 13% increase in CSA recovery compared to unaltered regeneration at 28 days. These results enable guided development of therapeutic strategies that similarly alter muscle physiology (i.e. converting extracellular matrix [ECM]-bound cytokines into freely diffusible forms as studied in cancer therapeutics or delivery of exogenous cytokines) during regeneration to enhance muscle recovery after injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Haase
- University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
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2
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Haase M, Comlekoglu T, Petrucciani A, Peirce SM, Blemker SS. Agent-based model demonstrates the impact of nonlinear, complex interactions between cytokines on muscle regeneration. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.08.14.553247. [PMID: 37645968 PMCID: PMC10462020 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.14.553247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Muscle regeneration is a complex process due to dynamic and multiscale biochemical and cellular interactions, making it difficult to identify microenvironmental conditions that are beneficial to muscle recovery from injury using experimental approaches alone. To understand the degree to which individual cellular behaviors impact endogenous mechanisms of muscle recovery, we developed an agent-based model (ABM) using the Cellular Potts framework to simulate the dynamic microenvironment of a cross-section of murine skeletal muscle tissue. We referenced more than 100 published studies to define over 100 parameters and rules that dictate the behavior of muscle fibers, satellite stem cells (SSC), fibroblasts, neutrophils, macrophages, microvessels, and lymphatic vessels, as well as their interactions with each other and the microenvironment. We utilized parameter density estimation to calibrate the model to temporal biological datasets describing cross-sectional area (CSA) recovery, SSC, and fibroblast cell counts at multiple time points following injury. The calibrated model was validated by comparison of other model outputs (macrophage, neutrophil, and capillaries counts) to experimental observations. Predictions for eight model perturbations that varied cell or cytokine input conditions were compared to published experimental studies to validate model predictive capabilities. We used Latin hypercube sampling and partial rank correlation coefficient to identify in silico perturbations of cytokine diffusion coefficients and decay rates to enhance CSA recovery. This analysis suggests that combined alterations of specific cytokine decay and diffusion parameters result in greater fibroblast and SSC proliferation compared to individual perturbations with a 13% increase in CSA recovery compared to unaltered regeneration at 28 days. These results enable guided development of therapeutic strategies that similarly alter muscle physiology (i.e. converting ECM-bound cytokines into freely diffusible forms as studied in cancer therapeutics or delivery of exogenous cytokines) during regeneration to enhance muscle recovery after injury.
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Sego TJ. SimService: a lightweight library for building simulation services in Python. Bioinformatics 2024; 40:btae009. [PMID: 38237907 PMCID: PMC10809901 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2023] [Revised: 11/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY Integrative biological modeling requires software infrastructure to launch, interconnect, and execute simulation software components without loss of functionality. SimService is a software library that enables deploying simulations in integrated applications as memory-isolated services with interactive proxy objects in the Python programming language. SimService supports customizing the interface of proxies so that simulation developers and users alike can tailor generated simulation instances according to model, method, and integrated application. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION SimService is written in Python, is freely available on GitHub under the MIT license at https://github.com/tjsego/simservice, and is available for download via the Python Package Index (package name "simservice") and conda (package name "simservice" on the conda-forge channel).
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Affiliation(s)
- T J Sego
- Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610-0225, United States
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Mochan E, Sego TJ. Mathematical Modeling of the Lethal Synergism of Coinfecting Pathogens in Respiratory Viral Infections: A Review. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2974. [PMID: 38138118 PMCID: PMC10745501 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11122974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2023] [Revised: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Influenza A virus (IAV) infections represent a substantial global health challenge and are often accompanied by coinfections involving secondary viruses or bacteria, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. The clinical impact of coinfections remains poorly understood, with conflicting findings regarding fatality. Isolating the impact of each pathogen and mechanisms of pathogen synergy during coinfections is challenging and further complicated by host and pathogen variability and experimental conditions. Factors such as cytokine dysregulation, immune cell function alterations, mucociliary dysfunction, and changes to the respiratory tract epithelium have been identified as contributors to increased lethality. The relative significance of these factors depends on variables such as pathogen types, infection timing, sequence, and inoculum size. Mathematical biological modeling can play a pivotal role in shedding light on the mechanisms of coinfections. Mathematical modeling enables the quantification of aspects of the intra-host immune response that are difficult to assess experimentally. In this narrative review, we highlight important mechanisms of IAV coinfection with bacterial and viral pathogens and survey mathematical models of coinfection and the insights gained from them. We discuss current challenges and limitations facing coinfection modeling, as well as current trends and future directions toward a complete understanding of coinfection using mathematical modeling and computer simulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ericka Mochan
- Department of Computational and Chemical Sciences, Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - T. J. Sego
- Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA;
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Raach B, Bundgaard N, Haase MJ, Starruß J, Sotillo R, Stanifer ML, Graw F. Influence of cell type specific infectivity and tissue composition on SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics within human airway epithelium. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011356. [PMID: 37566610 PMCID: PMC10446191 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Human airway epithelium (HAE) represents the primary site of viral infection for SARS-CoV-2. Comprising different cell populations, a lot of research has been aimed at deciphering the major cell types and infection dynamics that determine disease progression and severity. However, the cell type-specific replication kinetics, as well as the contribution of cellular composition of the respiratory epithelium to infection and pathology are still not fully understood. Although experimental advances, including Air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures of reconstituted pseudostratified HAE, as well as lung organoid systems, allow the observation of infection dynamics under physiological conditions in unprecedented level of detail, disentangling and quantifying the contribution of individual processes and cells to these dynamics remains challenging. Here, we present how a combination of experimental data and mathematical modelling can be used to infer and address the influence of cell type specific infectivity and tissue composition on SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamics. Using a stepwise approach that integrates various experimental data on HAE culture systems with regard to tissue differentiation and infection dynamics, we develop an individual cell-based model that enables investigation of infection and regeneration dynamics within pseudostratified HAE. In addition, we present a novel method to quantify tissue integrity based on image data related to the standard measures of transepithelial electrical resistance measurements. Our analysis provides a first aim of quantitatively assessing cell type specific infection kinetics and shows how tissue composition and changes in regeneration capacity, as e.g. in smokers, can influence disease progression and pathology. Furthermore, we identified key measurements that still need to be assessed in order to improve inference of cell type specific infection kinetics and disease progression. Our approach provides a method that, in combination with additional experimental data, can be used to disentangle the complex dynamics of viral infection and immunity within human airway epithelial culture systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Raach
- BioQuant-Center for Quantitative Biology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Nils Bundgaard
- BioQuant-Center for Quantitative Biology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Marika J. Haase
- BioQuant-Center for Quantitative Biology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jörn Starruß
- Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Rocio Sotillo
- Division of Molecular Thoracic Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Megan L. Stanifer
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Molecular Virology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- University of Florida, College of Medicine, Dept. of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America
| | - Frederik Graw
- BioQuant-Center for Quantitative Biology, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Department of Medicine 5, Erlangen, Germany
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6
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Gazeau S, Deng X, Ooi HK, Mostefai F, Hussin J, Heffernan J, Jenner AL, Craig M. The race to understand immunopathology in COVID-19: Perspectives on the impact of quantitative approaches to understand within-host interactions. IMMUNOINFORMATICS (AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS) 2023; 9:100021. [PMID: 36643886 PMCID: PMC9826539 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuno.2023.100021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the need for the increased integration of modelling and data analysis to public health, experimental, and clinical studies. Throughout the first two years of the pandemic, there has been a concerted effort to improve our understanding of the within-host immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus to provide better predictions of COVID-19 severity, treatment and vaccine development questions, and insights into viral evolution and the impacts of variants on immunopathology. Here we provide perspectives on what has been accomplished using quantitative methods, including predictive modelling, population genetics, machine learning, and dimensionality reduction techniques, in the first 26 months of the COVID-19 pandemic approaches, and where we go from here to improve our responses to this and future pandemics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonia Gazeau
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
- Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre, Montréal, Canada
| | - Xiaoyan Deng
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
- Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre, Montréal, Canada
| | - Hsu Kiang Ooi
- Digital Technologies Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Toronto, Canada
| | - Fatima Mostefai
- Montréal Heart Institute Research Centre, Montréal, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - Julie Hussin
- Montréal Heart Institute Research Centre, Montréal, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
| | - Jane Heffernan
- Modelling Infection and Immunity Lab, Mathematics Statistics, York University, Toronto, Canada
- Centre for Disease Modelling (CDM), Mathematics Statistics, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Adrianne L Jenner
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane Australia
| | - Morgan Craig
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
- Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Centre, Montréal, Canada
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Li A, Yang J, Qian J, Shao X, Liao J, Lu X, Fan X. Tracing the cell-type-specific modules of immune responses during COVID-19 progression using scDisProcema. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2022; 20:3545-3555. [PMID: 35811838 PMCID: PMC9250167 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2022.06.066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
COVID-19 has caused severe threats to lives and damage to property worldwide. The immunopathology of the disease is of particular concern. Currently, researchers have used gene co-expression networks (GCNs) to deepen the study of molecular mechanisms of immune responses to COVID-19. However, most efforts have not fully explored dynamic changes of cell-type-specific molecular networks in the disease process. This study proposes a GCN construction pipeline named single-cell Disease Progression cellular module analysis (scDisProcema), which can trace dynamic changes of immune system response during disease progression using single-cell data. Here, scDisProcema considers changes in cell fate and expression patterns during disease development, identifying gene modules responsible for different immune cells. The hub genes are screened for each module by the specific expression level and the intercellular connectivity of modules. Based on functional items enriched by each gene module, we elucidate the biological processes of different cells involved in disease development and explain the molecular mechanisms underlying the process of cell depletion or proliferation caused by disease. Compared with traditional WGCNA methods, scDisProcema can make more convenient use of the heterogeneity information provided by scRNA-seq data and has great potential in exploring molecular changes during disease progression and organ development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anyao Li
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
| | - Jihong Yang
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center in Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Component-Based Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Zhang Boli Intelligent Health Innovation Lab, Hangzhou 311100, China
| | - Jingyang Qian
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
| | - Xin Shao
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
| | - Jie Liao
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
| | - Xiaoyan Lu
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
- Innovation Center in Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Component-Based Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
| | - Xiaohui Fan
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiaxing 314102, China
- Innovation Center in Zhejiang University, State Key Laboratory of Component-Based Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310058, China
- Corresponding author at: College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
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8
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Bartha FA, Juhász N, Marzban S, Han R, Röst G. In Silico Evaluation of Paxlovid's Pharmacometrics for SARS-CoV-2: A Multiscale Approach. Viruses 2022; 14:1103. [PMID: 35632843 PMCID: PMC9146265 DOI: 10.3390/v14051103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Revised: 05/14/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Paxlovid is a promising, orally bioavailable novel drug for SARS-CoV-2 with excellent safety profiles. Our main goal here is to explore the pharmacometric features of this new antiviral. To provide a detailed assessment of Paxlovid, we propose a hybrid multiscale mathematical approach. We demonstrate that the results of the present in silico evaluation match the clinical expectations remarkably well: on the one hand, our computations successfully replicate the outcome of an actual in vitro experiment; on the other hand, we verify both the sufficiency and the necessity of Paxlovid's two main components (nirmatrelvir and ritonavir) for a simplified in vivo case. Moreover, in the simulated context of our computational framework, we visualize the importance of early interventions and identify the time window where a unit-length delay causes the highest level of tissue damage. Finally, the results' sensitivity to the diffusion coefficient of the virus is explored in detail.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferenc A. Bartha
- Bolyai Institute, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; (S.M.); (G.R.)
| | - Nóra Juhász
- Bolyai Institute, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; (S.M.); (G.R.)
| | - Sadegh Marzban
- Bolyai Institute, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; (S.M.); (G.R.)
| | - Renji Han
- School of Sciences, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China;
| | - Gergely Röst
- Bolyai Institute, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Hungary; (S.M.); (G.R.)
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