| dc.description.abstract | All day, every day, our immune system is working hard to prevent us from invaders that make us sick. This is done by multiple cell types of which we study the dynamics. Previous work focussed on the dynamics of cell populations in equilibrium (with constant cell numbers), however here we consider the non-equilibrium dynamics using data sampled from stem cell transplantation patients. They have a depleted cell pool and their immune cell pool is being reconstituted and thus not in equilibrium. We aim to understand why immune reconstitution takes a long time to improve immune therapy or better care of individuals with an abnormal immune system. We use deuterium labelling, a tool to track cell divisions, on patients that recently underwent a stem cell transplantation to show that cell production is increased compared to a healthy production. Moreover, the relatively small change in cell numbers suggests that cell loss should also be increased compared to healthy individuals. | |
