A Switching Memory Strategy in an Immune Network Model

As an empirical knowledge on vaccination, it is known that immune memories against viral antigens (i.e., self-reproductive antigens) are sustained for a very long period more than 10 years, whereas against non-viral antigens, they are sustained only for a relatively short period less than a few years. This fact suggests that an immune system switches adaptability its memory strategy according to degree of antigen’s self-reproductive rate, its hazard rate. Therefore it is an interesting knowledge though, so far, a theory that indicates a causal relationship between durability of an immune memory and an antigen’s viral/non-viral character has not been clarified.