Version 1
: Received: 30 May 2019 / Approved: 31 May 2019 / Online: 31 May 2019 (11:12:33 CEST)
How to cite:
Root-Bernstein, R. The Mysterious, and Potentially Revolutionary, Immunological Properties of Transfer Factor: A Review. Preprints2019, 2019050386. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201905.0386.v1
Root-Bernstein, R. The Mysterious, and Potentially Revolutionary, Immunological Properties of Transfer Factor: A Review. Preprints 2019, 2019050386. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201905.0386.v1
Root-Bernstein, R. The Mysterious, and Potentially Revolutionary, Immunological Properties of Transfer Factor: A Review. Preprints2019, 2019050386. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201905.0386.v1
APA Style
Root-Bernstein, R. (2019). The Mysterious, and Potentially Revolutionary, Immunological Properties of Transfer Factor: A Review. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201905.0386.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Root-Bernstein, R. 2019 "The Mysterious, and Potentially Revolutionary, Immunological Properties of Transfer Factor: A Review" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201905.0386.v1
Abstract
Transfer factor is the name given to material derived from activated lymphocytes that is probably composed of a complex of a peptide and a short segment of RNA and which has the reported ability to transfer specific T cell immunity to uncommitted lymphocytes. Many independent groups around the world reported isolating transfer factors between 1955 and 1990 and demonstrating their ability to transfer passive immunity from one animal or individual to another, often within 24 hours of inoculation. Such activity is potentially revolutionary both in making T cell vaccines readily manufacturable and also because the existence of transfer factors would undermine the basic assumptions of the clonal selection theory, which currently dominates immunological theory. Unfortunately, lack of the microanalytical and synthetic techniques required to properly identify transfer factors, combined with safety factors associated with it derivation from blood sources susceptible to HIV and prion infections, put an end to transfer factor research after 1990. This paper reviews the evidence supporting transfer factor activity and suggests that this potentially revolutionary concept be resurrected and subjected to renewed scrutiny in light of CRISPR-Cas mechanisms and because of its potential to make possible T cell vaccination and provide a novel basis for understanding immunological function.
Keywords
CRISPR, clonal selection, totipotent, multipotent, T cell receptors, B cell receptors, precommitted, lymphocyte, T cell vaccine, T cell vaccination
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Immunology and Microbiology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
