DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2022.v10i04.002

Pages: 77-84

The immune system of higher vertebrates is one of the most complex biological networks known and undoubtedly plays a determining role in the survival of our species in the face of continuous pressure from pathogenic microorganisms to which we are exposed. The adequate immune response, known as immunological fitness or immunocompetence, is a central concept in immunology, but its use, although widespread, does not have a formal operational definition. In the present work, A qualitative mathematical model of the notion of immunocompetence is developed, based on the formalism of Memory Evolutive Systems (MES), from which, immune fitness is defined as an emergent structure of a higher order arising from the signal networks that are established between effector cells and molecules of the immune response in the presence of an antigen. In addition, a mechanism is proposed, which may explain how immunocompetence is achieved in an organism endowed with innate and adaptive components of its immune system. Finally, a practical method to measure the immunocompetence status was established, using elements of the theory of small random graphs and considering the characteristics of the immune networks, established through transcriptional studies, of patients with severe COVID-19 and healthy patients, assuming that both types of patients were vaccinated with an effective biological against SARS-CoV-2.