A Mathematical Analysis of Human Leukocyte Antigen Serology

Abstract

This paper presents and explores a comprehensive mathematical model for human leukocyte antigen serology, based on a mathematical formalization of the concept of specificity. This model is general enough to take into account such factors as absorption, elution, cross-reactivity, and incomplete immunization. The paper includes a presentation of the relevant immunological background and a short discussion of the underlying computational difficulty of the basic problems. Upper and lower bounds are derived for the minimal number of specificities required to explain a given set of HLA reactions, and it is shown that the numbers of antibodies and antigens involved must be no less then this minimal number of specificities. Other techniques and theorems are also presented to aid in reducing and analyzing HLA reaction matrices.

Department(s)

Computer Science

Keywords and Phrases

Biological Materials - Blood; Mathematical Techniques - Boundary Value Problems; Histocompatibility; Serology; Immunology; Hla Antigen; Leukocyte Antigen; Human Cell; Mathematical Model; Nonbiological Model; Normal Human

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0025-5564

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1978 Elsevier, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Aug 1978

Link to Full Text

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