Letter from Otto Bier, Instituto Biologico (Brazil) to Michael Heidelberger
Dates
- Creation: 26 May 1942
Extent
2 pages
Description
Otto Bier recounted in this letter his return to Brazil from a year in Heidelberger's laboratory, where he had studied complement, a complex, essential component of host defense mechanisms against invading organisms. At the time, the term referred to the heat-sensitive factors in serum that trigger cytolysis, the dissolution of antibody-coated cells. Today, complement refers to a functionally related system of at least twenty different serum proteins that play a key role not just in cytolysis, but in other immune responses, including phagocytosis, the engulfing of foreign matter by immune cells, and anaphylaxis, a form of hypersensitivity reaction to a specific antigen with often life-threatening consequences. Heidelberger was one of the founders of the study of complement by showing that it was a group of chemical substances related to one another through enzymatic reactions.
Language of Materials
English
Original Profiles System Identifier
DHBBFH
Physical Description
Physical Condition - Good
Subject
- Heidelberger, Michael (Recipient, Person)
Collecting Area Details
Part of the Archives and Modern Manuscripts Collections Collecting Area
8600 Rockville Pike
Bldg 38/1E-21, MSC 3819
Bethesda MD 20894 US
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