Clemens freiherr von pirquet: Explaining immune complex disease in 1906

Nature Immunology

Volumn 1, Issue 6, 2000, Pages 453-455

  Silverstein, Arthur M ^a  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; AUSTRIA; HISTORY; HUMAN; IMMUNE COMPLEX DISEASE; IMMUNOLOGY; SERUM SICKNESS;

ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY; AUSTRIA; HISTORY, 19TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; IMMUNE COMPLEX DISEASES; SERUM SICKNESS;

EID: 0034568811     PISSN: 15292908     EISSN: 15292916     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/82691     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. Just as immunology was markedly ecumenical during its early days, so has it expanded similarly during this age of immunobiology. Much important work in the field is being done by transplant surgeons, internists, hematologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, physiologists and pharmacolo­gists who often do not belong to an immunological society, do not publish in immunological journals and do not even consider themselves immunologists.
2. Silverstein, A. M. Nature Immunol. 1, 93-94 (2000).
3. More details about Pirquet’s life are found in Wagner, R. Clemens von Pirquet: His life and work (Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1968).
4. Pirquet, however, opposed Ehrlich’s theory and aligned himself with Max Gruber, Ehrlich’s most vocal opponent. See their challenge to Ehrlich in Gruber, M. & Pirquet, C. Munch. med. Wochenschr. 50, 1193-1196, 1259-1263 (1903).
5. Ehrlich, P. Deutsch. med.Wochenschr. 17, 976-979 (1891) (Translation: Erlich, P. in Collected Papers Vol. 2, 21-26.) Ehrlich always looked for clinical implications in all of his research results.
6. This sealed letter is translated in full in Wagner, R. Clemens von Pirquet: His life and work, 52-54 (Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1968).
7. Antibodies were then the only known products of the immune response. It was thought that precipitins, agglutinins, hemolysins, and so on were separate substances.
8. Not long after, Pirquet and Bela Schick published on the theory of incubation time, see Von Pirquet, C. and Schick, B. Wien.klin.Wochenschr. 16, 758-759, 1244-1247 (1903). (Schick, 1877-1967, was a fellow student in pediatrics who later developed the Schick test to demon­strate immunity to diphtheria.)
9. See Griffin, D. E. in Measles Virus (eds ter Meulen, V. and Billeter, M.A.) 117-134 (Springer, New York, 1995).
10. Mitus, A. et al. N. Eng. J. Med. 261, 882-889 (1959); Markowitz, L. E. et al. J. Infect. Dis. 158, 480-483 (1988).
11. von Pirquet, C. and Schick, B. Das Serumkrankheit (Deuticke, Leipzig, 1905). (Translated by Schick as Serum Sickness, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1951.)
12. Kraus, R. Wien.klin.Wochenschr. 10, 736-738 (1897).
13. von Pirquet, C. and Schick, B. Serum Sickness, 103 (Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1951).
14. von Pirquet, C. Ergebn. Inn. Med. Kinderheilk. 5, 459-539 (1910). Reprinted as von Pirquet, C. Allergie (Springer, Berlin, 1910). (Translation: Arch. Intern. Med. 7, 258-288, 383-440, 1911. Reprinted as Allergy, American Medical Association, Chicago, 1911.)
15. Several generations of immunologists would insist that immunity and allergic diseases depend upon completely different mechanisms and systems and this view still finds adherents today. A counter-argument is made by Silverstein, A. M. & Rose, N. R. Semin.Immunol. 12, 173-178 (2000).
16. Dixon, F.J., Maurer, P. H. and Deichmiller, M. P. J. Immunol. 72, 179-186 (1954).
17. See, for example, the modern studies on immune complex disease that include the fluorescent antibody studies, which show the deposition of immune complexes and complement at the sites of pathology: Theofilopoulos, A. N. & Dixon, F. J. Adv.Immunol. 28, 1-90 (1979); Cochrane, C. G. & Koffler, D. Adv. Immunol 16, 185-264 (1973); Unanue, E. R. & Dixon, F.J. Adv. Immunol. 6, 1-90 (1967).
18. von Pirquet, C. Berlin klin.Wochenschr. 44, 699-700 (1907).
19. von Pirquet, C. Wien klin.Wochenschr. 42, 65-67 (1929).This was published posthumously and in full as Die Allergie des Lebensalters. Die Bosartigen Geschwulste (Thieme, Leipzig, 1930).