1890

Emil Behring & Shibasaburo Kitasato, both working with Koch, introduce “antitoxin” concept in The Establishment of Diphtheria Immunity and Tetanus Immunity in Animals in the Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift: “The immunity of rabbits and mice that are immunized against tetanus is based on the ability of the cell-free blood liquid to render harmless the toxic substances produced by the tetanus bacilli” (Bäumler, 52-53; Silverstein, 49; Liebenau, 50-51). This is considered the founding of serum therapy (163). The basic finding was that the blood serum of rabbits immune to tetanus could be transferred to other animals, rendering them immune to tetanus (viz, imparting to their blood the ability to destroy tetanus toxin). Hence: “outstanding therapeutic effects are obtainable by blood or serum transfusion” (52). “The discovery of antibody in 1890 reinforced the trend toward humoral theories of immunity, and interest in cellular immunity declined, not to be seriously revived for almost 60 years. After the work of Emil von Behring and his collaborators, the central theoretical questions in immunology involved how antibodies are formed and how they acquire and exercise their specificity” (Silverstein, 94-95).