In Vivo Transfer of cellular immunity to primates with transfer factor prepared from human or primate leucocytes

Abstract

Dialyzable transfer factor (TF d) prepared from a human donor and transfer factor (TF) from baboon whole cell lysates was administered to 3 species of nonhuman primates: baboons, cebus monkeys and marmosets. In vivo transfer was evaluated with in vivo skin test and in vitro blastogenic responses to multiple antigens. Transfer of cellular reactivity in all three nonhuman primate species was demonstrated with both human TF d and baboon TF. A cumulative conversion rate of 45% for skin test responses and 65% for lymphocyte blastogenesis was demonstrated following human TF d injection while conversion was 17% and 33% respectively following baboon TF. Specificity was supported by the absence of conversion to TF donor negative antigens. There were no signficant differences observed between the 3 recipient primate species.