ABSTRACT
A general model of the operation of a mammalian immune system is developed, in which particular attention is paid to the existence of a very large number of related components. By bunching together lymphocytes, accessory cells, and biochemical messengers into functional units, a simplified description is proposed for the proliferation of these units, depending upon their binding interactions. A toy model prepared in this context has a repertoire in close correspondence with expected properties of such a system. Several extensions of the model are described.
