Weighted networks in immune system shape space

In this paper we present a model of immune system development when subjected to repeated infection events. The emergence of a complex network in shape space is outlined, the edges of which are characterised by both direction and weight. Such a network model supports a more comprehensive classification of immune function than was previously available in that the efficacy of infection elimination is directly dependent on both connectivity and weight distributions. The network model which emerges possesses both small-world characteristics, as well as a truncated scale-free degree and weight distribution commonly observed in social network models.