Mathematical Biosciences 260 (2015) 1
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Mathematical Biosciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mbs
Editorial
Special issue on Mathematical Models of Inflammation
In this special issue of Mathematical Biosciences we present a collection of papers discussing a wide array of topics related to “Mathematical models of inflammation”. All three words are equally important, precise yet broad enough and the collection of papers we present will likely exemplify these characteristics. Inflammation is central, ubiquitous responses of great interest not only from a pathophysiological point of view, being at the centre of multiple disease aetiologies, but also from a systems/modelling point of view. Inflammation represents a response mechanism dominated by the need to maintain proper and timely balances: too little is just as bad as too much; too early is as bad as too late. Inflammation represents an exquisite regulatory mechanism which needs to be activated at the right time, the right place, and at the right level and subsequently resolved gracefully. In considering the terms “mathematical”, “modelling” and “inflammation” the papers in this special issue attempt to approach the central issues from a multitude of points of view. The two papers that open the issue discuss a pharmaceutical industry’s perspective. The first contribution by Lahoz-Beneyetez and co-workers presents the pharmaceutical industry’s perspective on the importance of mathematical modelling in the context of systems medicine and pharmacology of inflammatory diseases. The theme becomes specific in the second contribution by Ovacik where network models are discussed in the context of monoclonal antibody therapies for inflammatory diseases. The first two papers therefore, set a broader stage for the use of modelling as guiding principles in designing drugs for inflammatory diseases. The next two contributions are from clinicians and are particularly interesting since they present the “mathematical modelling” perspective from the point of view of those responsible for delivering health care. Clermont and Zenker discuss a fundamental problem in systems medicine, namely the ill-posedness of the quantitative process of formulating predictions that generate biological insight. An and Kulkarni
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mbs.2014.10.003 0025-5564/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
present an agent-based modelling framework in an attempt to link inflammation and cancer. The next two papers address interesting, challenging and novel methodological issues. Yang and co-workers discuss how discrete optimization can enable the analysis of transcriptomic information for the development of pathway-based models of inflammatory diseases; whereas Klett and co-workers motivated by models of the inflammatory response to heat stroke address in a systematic way fundamental mathematical modelling issues, namely the iterative cycle of model calibration, identifiability, analysis and experimental design. The last two contributions finally, take a closer look at the cellularlevel inflammatory mechanisms and in particular both address issues related to the fundamental role of circadian oscillations and their roles in homeostasis and the inflammatory response. Wang and Yu present a thorough analysis of circadian regulation of a central inflammatory regulator, NFkB. Mavroudis and co-workers, finally, present novel insights into the permissive/suppressive nature of a key antiinflammatory hormone, cortisol, and its implications on the inflammatory response. We feel that this special issue has highlighted a wide range of interesting topics and has demonstrated the spectrum of questions that can be formulated via mathematical models of inflammation, as well as the range of modelling approaches, and hopefully, the nature of informative insights that can be generated.
Ioannis (Yannis) P. Androulakis∗ Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Biomedical Engineering Department and Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Department, 599 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States ∗
Tel.: +1 848 445 6561; fax: +1 732 445 3753. E-mail address: [email protected]
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Mathematical Biosciences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mbs
Editorial
Special issue on Mathematical Models of Inflammation
In this special issue of Mathematical Biosciences we present a collection of papers discussing a wide array of topics related to “Mathematical models of inflammation”. All three words are equally important, precise yet broad enough and the collection of papers we present will likely exemplify these characteristics. Inflammation is central, ubiquitous responses of great interest not only from a pathophysiological point of view, being at the centre of multiple disease aetiologies, but also from a systems/modelling point of view. Inflammation represents a response mechanism dominated by the need to maintain proper and timely balances: too little is just as bad as too much; too early is as bad as too late. Inflammation represents an exquisite regulatory mechanism which needs to be activated at the right time, the right place, and at the right level and subsequently resolved gracefully. In considering the terms “mathematical”, “modelling” and “inflammation” the papers in this special issue attempt to approach the central issues from a multitude of points of view. The two papers that open the issue discuss a pharmaceutical industry’s perspective. The first contribution by Lahoz-Beneyetez and co-workers presents the pharmaceutical industry’s perspective on the importance of mathematical modelling in the context of systems medicine and pharmacology of inflammatory diseases. The theme becomes specific in the second contribution by Ovacik where network models are discussed in the context of monoclonal antibody therapies for inflammatory diseases. The first two papers therefore, set a broader stage for the use of modelling as guiding principles in designing drugs for inflammatory diseases. The next two contributions are from clinicians and are particularly interesting since they present the “mathematical modelling” perspective from the point of view of those responsible for delivering health care. Clermont and Zenker discuss a fundamental problem in systems medicine, namely the ill-posedness of the quantitative process of formulating predictions that generate biological insight. An and Kulkarni
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mbs.2014.10.003 0025-5564/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
present an agent-based modelling framework in an attempt to link inflammation and cancer. The next two papers address interesting, challenging and novel methodological issues. Yang and co-workers discuss how discrete optimization can enable the analysis of transcriptomic information for the development of pathway-based models of inflammatory diseases; whereas Klett and co-workers motivated by models of the inflammatory response to heat stroke address in a systematic way fundamental mathematical modelling issues, namely the iterative cycle of model calibration, identifiability, analysis and experimental design. The last two contributions finally, take a closer look at the cellularlevel inflammatory mechanisms and in particular both address issues related to the fundamental role of circadian oscillations and their roles in homeostasis and the inflammatory response. Wang and Yu present a thorough analysis of circadian regulation of a central inflammatory regulator, NFkB. Mavroudis and co-workers, finally, present novel insights into the permissive/suppressive nature of a key antiinflammatory hormone, cortisol, and its implications on the inflammatory response. We feel that this special issue has highlighted a wide range of interesting topics and has demonstrated the spectrum of questions that can be formulated via mathematical models of inflammation, as well as the range of modelling approaches, and hopefully, the nature of informative insights that can be generated.
Ioannis (Yannis) P. Androulakis∗ Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Biomedical Engineering Department and Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Department, 599 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, United States ∗
Tel.: +1 848 445 6561; fax: +1 732 445 3753. E-mail address: [email protected]
