  The innate immune system, acting as the first line of host defense, senses
and adapts to foreign challenges through complex intracellular and
intercellular signaling networks. Endotoxin tolerance and priming elicited by
macrophages are classic examples of the complex adaptation of innate immune
cells. Upon repetitive exposures to different doses of bacterial endotoxin
(lipopolysaccharide) or other stimulants, macrophages show either suppressed or
augmented inflammatory responses compared to a single exposure to the
stimulant. Endotoxin tolerance and priming are critically involved in both
immune homeostasis and the pathogenesis of diverse inflammatory diseases.
However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. By means
of a computational search through the parameter space of a coarse-grained
three-node network with a two-stage Metropolis sampling approach, we enumerated
all the network topologies that can generate priming or tolerance. We
discovered three major mechanisms for priming (pathway synergy, suppressor
deactivation, activator induction) and one for tolerance (inhibitor
persistence). These results not only explain existing experimental
observations, but also reveal intriguing test scenarios for future experimental
studies to clarify mechanisms of endotoxin priming and tolerance.
