What Are Transfer Factors?
May 26th, 2009 by The Doc
Transfer factors are small immune messenger molecules (cytokines) that are normally produced by white blood cells (lymphocytes). Much smaller than antibodies, transfer factors are composed of 40 – 50 amino acids and some other structural elements.
Transfer factors are found in all higher animals, including mammals and birds. To date, these molecules have been isolated from lymphocytes, egg yolk, and colostrum (“first mother’s milk”).
Transfer factors were discovered in 1949 by Sherwood Lawrence, MD, a member of the medical faculty at New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Lawrence found that when he injected an extract of white cells from people previously infected with tuberculosis into someone who had never had the disease, immunity was transferred to the recipient. Perhaps unimaginatively (but appropriately), he called the extract transfer factor.
Dr. Lawrence went on to serve as head of infectious diseases and immunology at NYU, director of the NYU Cancer Center, and director of the NYU AIDS Research Center. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and honorary chair of the International Transfer Factor Society, an organization of scientists from around the world who exchange information regarding transfer factors and other immunoregulators.
Subsequent research by the ITFS and other investigators has shown that transfer factors allow the exchange of immune information between people and even between animals and people. These molecules are not species specific—that is, transfer factors from one species are effective in a different species—unlike, say, the antibodies in colostrum, which are only useful to the species that produces them.
So, How Do Transfer Factors Work?
When a lymphocyte recognizes a threat—such as a virus, bacterium, fungus, parasite, or cancer cell—it produces transfer factors that are designed to signal the presence of that threat to other cells.
Like messages in bottles, transfer factors are cast into the bloodstream where they are picked up by other immune cells. These cells can detect exceedingly small amounts of transfer factors, and they migrate “upstream” toward increasing concentration gradients of transfer factors. This property allows recruitment of various elements of the immune system to deal with any given threat.
Transfer factors play an important role in macrophage activation, lymphocyte transformation (the maturation of precursor cells to functional B and T cells), and cell-mediated immunity. As potent messengers within the immune system, transfer factors serve three distinct functions:
Transfer Factors Recognize a Threat
Transfer factors are capable of recognizing antigens, which are identifiers on the surfaces of substances that are not “us”. Since there are literally millions of antigens in our environment, transfer factors that recognize all of these antigens (i.e., “antigen-specific” transfer factors) must be produced in order to maintain optimal immune function.
It is this antigen specificity that allows transfer factors to recruit an initial response within 24 – 48 hours of an immune challenge. This contrasts with immunity that is conferred by a vaccine, which can take weeks to develop.
Ironically, antigen specificity is the transfer factor property that frustrated early attempts by pharmaceutical companies to develop these molecules for marketing. The philosophy of “one cure for one disease” would have necessitated monumental expense for research and mandated the granting of innumerable patents for a legion of antigen-specific transfer factor products.
Transfer Factors Respond to a Threat
Once an antigen is recognized as foreign, transfer factors are instrumental in coordinating the immune response to the threat. As inducers of natural killer (NK) cells, transfer factors contribute to the first-line, or innate, immune response.
NK cells are non-specific attack cells that eliminate infected, malignant, or otherwise abnormal cells before they pose a significant threat to the organism. Transfer factors can boost NK cell activity nearly five times over baseline levels.
Recent studies also show that transfer factors increase the levels of IgA (the primary antibody in mucous membranes, where many infections first get started) by nearly 75%. This implies that transfer factors also induce B cells, the lymphocytes that produce antibodies.
Transfer Factors Remember a Threat
Once a foreign antigen has been overwhelmed and eliminated by the immune response, the cells that were involved in the battle retain the capability to produce transfer factors targeted toward similar antigens. Thus, should the need arise, the immune system has a “memory” for dealing with the antigen in the future.
Transfer Factors: the Subtleties
Researchers have identified several interesting characteristics of transfer factors that further explain their ability to influence immunity. The first—antigen specificity—is discussed above.
In addition, transfer factors possess a generalized “inducer” fraction that apparently initiates an immune cascade in response to any foreign antigen. This “multivalent” property seems to alert immune cells to “not us” invaders before the antigens are even identified. Therefore, immune cells are already mobilizing to address the threat before its specific nature is known.
Finally, transfer factors possess the ability to suppress the immune response once a threat has been neutralized. They accomplish this task by stimulating the release of T suppressor cells that down-regulate an overactive immune system, preventing runaway inflammation that could damage healthy cells and tissues.
Transfer Factors in a Nutshell
In summary, transfer factors are small messenger molecules that help our immune cells to recognize a threat, respond to it, and then remember the threat in case it returns. Once the threat has been addressed, transfer factors help to suppress the overactive immune response to prevent damage to healthy tissues.
Where Can I Find Transfer Factors?
The 60-year saga behind the discovery and technological development that brought transfer factors to the market is interesting, but detailed. For better or worse, these molecules are now available only from one source, which is a direct-sales company called 4Life Research.
A number of companies offer colostrum products, claiming that they contain transfer factors (interestingly, they didn’t make such claims until it became evident that transfer factors, not antibodies, were the beneficial element in colostrum). While cow colostrum does contain transfer factors, it also contains potentially allergenic proteins and antibodies that are of no real use to the human immune system.
4Life Research owns the exclusive, worldwide patent on the process to extract transfer factors from colostrum—and eggs, too, by the way; it was 4Life’s scientists who discovered transfer factors in egg yolk. These patented processes allow for the purification and concentration of transfer factors in quantities that benefit human health.
(Transfer Factor® Testimonials: Familiar Faces and Impressive Credentials)
Hello, I received your name from a patient of mine named Jeanne Mckinley. Ive recently been diagnosed with both Hashimotos thyroiditis and celiac disease. Would definitely be interested in learning more about transfer factors. Thank you, Tracy