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Plastikos Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
4370 Georgetown Square |
TRANSFER FACTORS IN CLINICAL MEDICINE
By: Susan E. Kolb, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Certified by The American Board of Holistic Medicine, 2-01
Transfer factors are small molecules purified from bovine colostrum, which are produced by T lymphocytes and can transfer the ability to recognize a pathogen (i.e. bacteria or virus) to cells that have not been in contact with the pathogen. Transfer factors were discovered in 1949 when H.S. Lawrence demonstrated that the immune fraction of an individual's white blood cells was able to transfer immunity to a non-sensitized person. Transfer factors also heighten the immune system's ability to react to agents which cause disease. The inducer fraction of the transfer factor is helpful for the body to fight against pathogens and the suppressor fraction of the transfer factor creates a down regulation of the immune response, which is useful in allergic or autoimmune conditions.
The reason that colostrum contains transfer factors is that the infant's immune system has not yet been exposed to many pathogens and therefore responds slowly. The mother passes the transfer factors to the infant in the milk or colostrum thus helping the baby survive until it can have a more mature immune system. This is why breastfeeding is preferable to bottle feeding. Bovine colostrum has been found to have many health benefits and the active ingredient is felt to be transfer factors, which can be isolated from the colostrum. The benefits of transfer factors were discovered approximately 50 years ago. Since that time they have been the subject of a great deal of research and there are over 3500 medical peer review journal articles on research about transfer factors. Many of these papers are available at the National Institutes of Health's web page.
Transfer factors have been shown to be beneficial in educating the immune system to more easily recognize disease and to respond quickly to pathogens as well as building up the defenses of the immune system to attack the pathogens and finally modulation of an overactive immune system so that less damage is done to normal tissue. Transfer factors are effective in a wide variety of infectious diseases including chronic sinusitis, viral hepatitis, chronic candidiasis, chronic infection, otitis media, AIDS, and other viral infections. Other conditions that are treated with transfer factor include cancer, asthma, allergic conditions, autoimmune disease, vaccination-induced illness, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Transfer Factor Plus has transfer factors along with thymic factors, beta-1-3 glucan, IP-6, and Chinese mushrooms, which help T Cell function, as well as aloe. We are currently recommending Transfer Factor Plus to our patients with an immune system dysfunction that which would benefit from the augmentation of cell mediated immunity and to our patients who have problems with immune disregulation resulting in an autoimmune disease. It is very useful to have a tool that modulates the immune system rather than simply killing off the bacteria and or viruses leaving the potential to create super pathogens, which may be resistant to known therapies.
References:
- Transfer Factor and Its Clinical Applications, Steven J. Boch, M.D., International Journal of Integrative Medicine, Volume 2, Number 4, pages 44-49, July/August 2000.
- Transfer Factor and Transfer Factor Plus Boost Your Immune System - Provide Increased Protection Against Viral, Bacterial, and other Diseases, Stanley J. Kornhauser, PhD.