The Mysterious, and Potentially Revolutionary, Immunological Properties of Transfer Factor: A Review

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.

The Evolutionary Origin of the Immune System, Neonatal Tolerance, Mhc Restriction

Immunology has made tremendous progress during more than half century after Burnet's clonal selection theory was published, but there are still more questions than answers. What is the function of the immune system, given that invertebrates have lived without one for millions of years, although they are also susceptible to infections and tumors? On the other hand, the emergence of the immune system in evolution did not deliver higher animals from either infections or cancer. The concept of linked functions is an attempt at answering these and other related questions. The concept assumes that the evolutionary origin of the immune system is related to a primary nonimmune function rather than to self/ nonself recognition. However, the mechanisms used to fulfill this function proved to be a suitable basis for immune recognition, which, according to the concept, occurs at the level of receptor-bearing immune cells rather than receptors themselves. Since cross-reactivity is a common phenomenon, it is assumed that specific combinations of antigenic determinants, rather than determinants per se, serve as recognition criteria, antigen processing and MCH-II restriction being necessary steps of the immune recognition of these combinations. The new views on adaptive immunity suggest new approaches to preventing graft rejection and treating chronic infections and malignant tumors.

Extracting Information in Agricultural Data Using Fuzzy-Rough Sets Hybridization and Clonal Selection Theory Inspired Algorithms

Mining agricultural data with artificial immune system (AIS) algorithms, particularly the clonal selection algorithm (CLONALG) and artificial immune recognition system (AIRS), form the bedrock of this paper. The fuzzy-rough feature selection (FRFS) and vaguely quantified rough set (VQRS) feature selection are coupled with CLONALG and AIRS for improved detection and computational efficiencies. Comparative simulations with sequential minimal optimization and multi-layer perceptron reveal that the CLONALG and AIRS produced significant results. Their respective FRFS and VQRS upgrades namely, FRFS-CLONALG, FRFS-AIRS, VQRS-CLONALG, and VQRS-AIRS, are able to generate the highest detection rates and lowest false alarm rates. Thus, gathering useful information with the AIS models can help to enhance productivity related to agriculture.