Immunoglobulin Implants

            Antibodies have shown multiple uses in medicine, from ‘vaccines’ to mop up venom and toxins, to targeting pathogens. With the growing knowledge of molecular biology, combined with the advances in cell culture it was possible to raise cells against specific antigens, and then to purify these plasma cells which could then be fused with cancerous white cells, to produce a continuous source of monoclonal antibodies. As the producing cells are cancer fusioned they are immortal and small cell cultures can be expanded to produce massive amounts of antibody. The uses for monoclonal antibodies are numerous from therapies to diagnostic tests, and also for a whole battery of immunological methods in biochemistry.

            These methods were further advanced when it was found that modification of the immunoglobulins to include J-chains, a sequence that allows antibodies in and out of cells, could be used to find epitopes not only in the circulating blood stream but also in cells themselves. It was then simple, especially in laboratory animals, to raise these special antibodies against previously difficult targets, such as viral particles inside cells, or bacteria, such as the tuberculosis strains, that live inside cells. However the administration of the antibody would require repeated treatment, and there were problems with immune response against the therapy. A way of administering a continuous dose of these antibodies was needed, preferably avoiding the need of immunosupressing the patient so that they would not fight the antibody.

            In response to these demands, special immunological implants were given, consisting of the producer cells which are encased inside a porous shell, these cells extract nutrients from the tissue fluid, and excrete their antibodies, but crucially the porous shielding stops the lymphoma cells from escaping into the host, though the risk of cancer from many cell lines was negligible (as incompatible tissue), the immune response against these foreign cells could trigger the immune system into attacking the body’s tissues, the shell therefore created a physical barrier between the producer cells and the host’s immune system, and tissue compatibility issues avoided. The immunoglobulins were also susceptible to attack, but simple biological modifications to these were made to avoid immune conflict.

            These implants allowed doctors to administer to their patients a kind of instant specific immune response, though completely independent of the patients own immune system. Though these implants were used with good effect against chronic diseases, and in helping protect immunodeficient people (especially in fighting HIV, and effective vaccines were not taken well by already infected patients), these kinds of implants were not tremendously wide spread (the technology was relatively sophisticated, and at the time only developed countries made the best use of this treatment). However the kind of targeted and discrete response this therapy offered did not entirely become obsolete, and is still a viable technique today, though modern Nano technology is becoming perhaps the most powerful medical tool.