SIZE AND CONNECTIVITY OF THE IDIOTYPIC NETWORK ARE INDEPENDENT OF THEDISCRETENESS OF THE AFFINITY DISTRIBUTION

Idiotypic interactions may be a factor in the selection of the B cell repertoire. Simulations of an evolving idiotypic network where new clo nes are introduced on a daily basis have shown that macroscopic proper ties, such as network size and connectivity, attain stationary values despite the rapid turnover of individual clones, indicating that idiot ypic networks possess self-organizing properties. Affinities between a ntibodies were either zero, low (0.1), or high (1.0) in these simulati ons. It has been suggested that network properties may change when aff inities take arbitrary real values. Here we show that the previous res ults of De Beer & Perelson on network size and connectivity are not ch anged when affinities take many different, closely spaced values. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited