Transfer Factor, an Immunomodulator Molecule

Transfer Factor, an Immunomodulator Molecule 
by Billy Bascuguin, Medical Researcher
Part 1

Introduction

Before we begin, let us look at our current situation. Today we face many health challenges and among these are:

- New and Emerging Diseases
- Increasing Antibiotic Resistance
- Return of Old Germs (Tuberculosis, Leprosy, etc.)
- World Travel (leading to the rapid spread of new diseases)
- Multiple Areas of Stress
- Aging Population

Millennia ago, Hippocrates stated "Let thy medicines be thy foods and thy foods be thy medicines." Recently, Professor John D. Potter expressed the same sentiment. "Cancer may be the result of reducing the level of intake of foods that are metabolically necessary."

Drugs are placed between disease and predisease. Drugs replace or suppress a body function but do not strengthen a body function. Drugs may restore us to a state of predisease but not to a state of health. For example, a person with a weak immune system may use an antibiotic to replace their inadequate immune response but this does not make them any more capable of fending off the next exposure. There are times when drugs are immediately essential and in each case the reason can be found in a failure of the normal body functions. There is no such thing as a drug deficiency. Put another way, a headache is not a deficiency of Tylenol! On the other hand, there are many deficiency diseases which, when the person is adequately supplemented, disappear completely and the person is able to regain full health and not just a weak, predisease status. What should be clear is that, contrary to our current use of drugs as a first option in fighting disease, drugs should be a last option.

Strengthen the body systems through intelligent supplementation should be our first action to maintain and improve our health. One of the most important of our systems is the immune system. Our immune system is an intricate, interrelated defensive force made up of trillion cells. Our health, quality of life, and indeed our very survival, depend on the effectiveness of our immune response. Our immune system protects us by recognizing germs and cancerous cells, reaching and destroying these intruders and finally by remembering these pathogens and cancers as a defense against future invasions. In addressing the importance of the immune systems, Prof. Paul Ewald, the author of"Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease", stated that if a person has the choice between all the drugs in the world and his immune system, he better keep his immune system.

Supplementation in support of our immune system is the single most important action we can take to protect our health and regain control of our health care because no other body system can function properly without a functioning immune system. Today, many factors contribute to the general weakening of our body's defenses. We will examine the nature of the innate and adaptive immune systems and consider the recent research on natural agents that can potentially save lives thereby enabling us to make choices that can improve our health and protect us in an increasingly dangerous environment. This article will focus on those essential dietary components which have shown outstanding ability to strengthen and support the immune system. Primary among these supplements is Transfer Factor.

TRANSFER FACTOR 

Introduction: What is Transfer Factor?

While introducing Tuberculosis in the late 1940s, Dr. Sherwood Lawrence discovered that the immune competence of a donor could be transferred to a naive recipient by using low molecular weight extracts obtained from white blood cells. Dr Lawrence called these small molecular extracts Transfer Factor (TF). If the thymus gland can be compared to a grammar school and prep school, TF can be compared to collegiate and graduate level training for the immune system. Scientists later found TF to be universally effective regardless of the differences between the species of the donor and the recipient. This aspect of TF is partly explained by this core scientific belief; the more essential a material or structure is to living organisms, the more common it is to see this material or structure throughout living systems. TF are essential components of even the most primitive immune systems.

Unlike antibodies that are large molecules, Transfer Factors are quite small. In fact, their size helps to make them non-allergenic. And while antibodies are used up when they attach themselves to the offending cells or protein, Transfer Factors perform a different role. They are immune messenger molecules that educate and alert naive immune cells to an impending danger. In this regard, Transfer Factors perform a catalytic role in the immune system triggering the effect without being consumed.

BENEFITS OF TRANSFER FACTOR

The exciting benefits of Transfer Factor, the essence of the immunological message, could spark a revolution in medicine. The need for such a new weapon in our immune arsenal is clear. "Transfer Factor has an important role to play in modern medicine which, from AIDS to Ebola, faces from the emergence of new viruses or the resurfacing of old pathologies such as Tuberculosis". Nevertheless, there are many who resist new ideas, regardless of their benefits.

The benefits of Transfer Factor have been reviewed and the proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Transfer Factor have been published. These reports cover the successful use of Transfer Factor in addressing viral, parasitic, fungal, malignant, neurological and autoimmune diseases. Transfer Factor has been shown to be beneficial to all age groups, from children to the elderly. The benefits from human use of animal-derived Transfer Factors have been demonstrated. In most of the published research on the use of Transfer Factor, disease and malaise where present, but the real power of Transfer Factor is actually in prevention. The use of Transfer Factor in the prevention of illness and the maintenance of health is its greatest potential benefit and its safety when used chronically has been well established. The future of financial burden of medical care could be curved significantly by the general use of Transfer Factor.

SOURCES AND SAFETY OF TRANSFER FACTOR

Transfer Factor was first discovered inside the human white blood cell. Two patents currently govern the commercial production of Transfer Factor from colostrum and chicken egg yolks. Transfer Factor has an excellent safety record, and no adverse side effects have been reported. This has been shown even when Transfer Factor was administered in extreme excess or over several years. Infants and the elderly are the two groups most at risk for infection. Oral administration of Transfer Factor is convenient and easily accepted by all age group.

In addition, over 3,500 papers have been written on Transfer Factor since it was first reported in 1949. Studies in the human use of Transfer Factor have been shown how it can relieve unnecessary suffering simply and safely.

THE INNATE IMMUNE SYSTEM

The innate immune system is made up of various receptors, natural antibodies, messenger molecules (such as interferon), complement proteins, and natural killer (NK) cells. The innate immune system is our first-line of defense against cancer and infectious diseases. The innate response works by recognizing distinct patterns in microorganisms and reacting to them. This pattern recognition is innately coded into our immune system DNA and does not require us to have prior exposure to th microbial agent. In the past, the innate immunity of vertebrates had been considered archaic and obsolete, but today, the innate immune system is regarded as essential to the function of adaptive immunity and survival.

To be continued .....(Part 2 - Natural Antibodies)