Xref: utzoo sci.bio:1348 sci.misc:2107 sci.research:419
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!mahler.llnl.gov!colvin
From: colvin@mahler.llnl.gov (Mike Colvin)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.misc,sci.research
Subject: Strange results in Nature article
Summary: Antibody activity in 10**-38 Molar solutions
Message-ID: <10465@lll-winken.llnl.gov>
Date: 22 Jul 88 20:33:32 GMT
Sender: usenet@lll-winken.llnl.gov
Reply-To: colvin@mahler.llnl.gov.UUCP (Mike Colvin)
Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lines: 28


	Has anyone read in the newsgroup read the article: "Human basophil
degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE" in
the June 30 Nature on page 816?  It's also discussed in an editorial
entitled "When to Believe the Unbelievable" on page 787 of the same issue.

	The article reports an extremely weird result which would seen to 
have no sensible physical explaination.  The researchers set out to find the 
fractional cell degranualtion at various antibody concentrations. 
They found that there was *no* level of dilution at which the fraction
of cell degranulation went to zero.  EVEN WHEN THEY DILUTED THE SOLUTION
DOWN TO 1 x 10**120.  Since Avagadro's number is only about 6 * 10**23, this
means that there is not even a single antibody present in these solutions.
Note that degranulation is a very specific reaction which does not occur
spontaneously or in the presence of other proteins.  To futher rule out
contamination the diluted solution was run through an ultrafiltration system,
but the filtrate still caused degranulation.  Interestingly, this activity
can be inactivated by freeze-thawing or heating the solution above 70 C.
Of course the experiment has been rerun several times by 6 research groups 
in 4 countries using normal double blind procedures.  The authors have no 
explaination but hypothesize that the antibody is somehow leaving its 
"imprint" on the water molecules, but this explaination is unsatisfactory
for many reasons.  Nature is sponsoring an overview committee to monitor
repititions of this experiment.

	Anyway, I just wanted to point out this truly bizarre article and
would like to hear what other people have to say about it.
	
							-Mike Colvin