Immunoglobulins and Antibodies.
In recent years it has become more and more clear that immunoglobulins are regulators of homeostasis, independent of their specificity as antibodies. The presence in immunoglobulins of biochemical characteristics, inherent to oxidoreductases with their capability of coordinating transition metals, determines their possibility of regulating the "consistency" of the membranes of different cells, first of all, blood cells and endothelium of the vessels, including high endothelial venules. Intermediate products of the catabolic lysis of immunoglobulins, such as Fab-fragments, actively participate in these events. To the contrary, different-length peptides of the Fc-fragment of the IgG molecule play an important role in the chemotaxis, regulation of phagocytosis processes. The bioregulatory functions of immunoglobulins and their products of limited catabolic lysis are linked in a decisive degree to their participation in the process of regulating the level of low-living free radicals. All of the foregoing and many other functions of immunoglobulins provide evidence that the earlier held idea that the role of these proteins was only to support immune homeostasis to a large degree narrowed the field of investigation. The problem has not only been removed, but more probably has passed into a new phase of its development on more profound biochemical and chemico-physical levels.
Kulberg
Alexander Ya.
AY
Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of RAMS, Moscow, Russia.