Soliton growth-signal transduction in topologically quantized T cells

A model for growth-signal transduction of the T cell and its growth factor, interleukin-2, is presented. It is obtained as a generalization of the usual rate equation and is founded on the observation that a definite number of receptor occupations must take place in order to promote transition to the S phase and subsequent DNA replication. The generalized rate equation is identified as the equation of motion of a Lagrangian field theory of Ginzburg-Landau (Goldstone) type. However it is not an ad hoc model but is a microscopic theory of the interaction of interleukin-2 and its receptor. The topological quantum number of the model is related to the observed definite number of receptor occupations required to elicit growth-signal transduction. Individual receptor quanta, up to this limit, are subjected to a type of Bose condensation. This collective excitation constitutes the growth signal in the form of a topological kink soliton which is then launched by the next potential receptor occupation that makes the interaction repulsive. The model provides a possible long-absent explanation of the triggering mechanism for growth-signal transduction by means of the ambivalent interaction, which switches sign after a definite number of receptor occupations. Moreover, it offers an explanation of how Nature screens out fractional signals in the growth-signal-transduction process of T cells. Although the model is derived for assumed point-like cells and certain other restrictions, the obtained dose-response curves are in striking agreement with proliferation data from studies of both the leukemic T cell line MLA-144 from gibbon ape and normal human T cells in, and without, the presence of monoclonal anti-Tac antibodies.