| An innately interesting decade of research in immunology. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 15580257 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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"Nature has provided, in the white corpuscles as you call them-in the phagocytes as we call them-a natural means of devouring and destroying all disease germs. There is at bottom only one genuinely scientific treatment for all diseases, and that is to stimulate the phagocytes." So opined B.B. in G.B. Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma in a dramatic restatement of a key portion of Ilya Metchnikoff's Nobel Prize address: "Whenever the organism enjoys immunity, the introduction of infectious microbes is followed by the accumulation of mobile cells, of white corpuscles of the blood in particular which absorb the microbes and destroy them. The white corpuscles and the other cells capable of doing this have been designated 'phagocytes,' (i.e., devouring cells) and the whole function that ensures immunity has been given the name of 'phagocytosis'". Based on these insights into the foundation of resistance to infectious disease, Metchnikoff was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Paul Ehrlich (Fig. 1). Although both were cited for discoveries in immunity, the contributions of the two men seem worlds apart. Ehrlich's studies did not deal with generic responses to infection, but rather with the highly specific nature of antibodies and their relationship to the cells producing them: "As the cell receptor is obviously preformed, and the artificially produced antitoxin only the consequence, i.e. secondary, one can hardly fail to assume that the antitoxin is nothing else but discharged components of the cell, namely receptors discharged in excess". But biological systems are just that-systems-and the parts need to work together. And so we arrive, a century later, at an appreciation for just how intimately related these two seemingly disparate aspects of host defense really are. |
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Authors:
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Ronald N Germain |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Historical Article; Journal Article; Portraits; Review |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Nature medicine Volume: 10 ISSN: 1078-8956 ISO Abbreviation: Nat. Med. Publication Date: 2004 Dec |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2004-12-06 Completed Date: 2005-03-24 Revised Date: 2008-11-21 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 9502015 Medline TA: Nat Med Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 1307-20 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Lymphocyte Biology Section, Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. rgermain@nih.gov |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Adjuvants, Immunologic* Allergy and Immunology / history* Apoptosis / immunology Dendritic Cells / immunology*, metabolism History, 20th Century History, 21st Century Immunity, Innate / immunology* Killer Cells, Natural / immunology Membrane Glycoproteins / immunology*, metabolism Models, Immunological* Receptors, Cell Surface / immunology*, metabolism T-Lymphocytes / immunology Toll-Like Receptors |
| Chemical | |
Reg. No./Substance:
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0/Adjuvants, Immunologic; 0/Membrane Glycoproteins; 0/Receptors, Cell Surface; 0/Toll-Like Receptors |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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