A robust model to describe the differentiation of T-helper cells

There is a wealth of information regarding the differentiation of T-helper cells. Nevertheless, there is no general agreement on the topology and dynamical properties of the molecular network controlling the differentiation of these cells. This paper presents a continuous dynamical system to model the signaling network that controls the differentiation process of T-helper cells. The model is able to represent the differentiation from the precursor Th0 cell to any of the four effectors types (Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg), as well as the phenotype of single null mutants. We present the first sensitivity analysis of the equations defining the Th model, showing that the qualitative dynamical behavior of the model is very robust against changes in three out of four tested parameters. The robustness of the model is in agreement with our claim that the qualitative behavior of the system is to a large extent independent of the methodological framework used for modeling.