The effects of symmetry on the dynamics of antigenic variation

TL;DR

This paper explores how symmetry in antigenic interactions influences the complex dynamics of pathogen immune escape, using a malaria model to reveal broader implications for multi-strain disease behavior.

Contribution

It demonstrates that symmetry considerations can explain various dynamical regimes in antigenic variation, offering a new perspective on pathogen immune evasion mechanisms.

Findings

Symmetry explains observed dynamical regimes in antigenic variation.

Results are applicable to other multi-strain diseases.

Analysis provides a generic framework for understanding immune escape.

Abstract

In the studies of dynamics of pathogens and their interactions with a host immune system, an important role is played by the structure of antigenic variants associated with a pathogen. Using the example of a model of antigenic variation in malaria, we show how many of the observed dynamical regimes can be explained in terms of the symmetry of interactions between different antigenic variants. The results of this analysis are quite generic, and have wider implications for understanding the dynamics of immune escape of other parasites, as well as for the dynamics of multi-strain diseases.