6 IMMUNO-CATALYSIS 



special properties characteristic of the known enzymes which catalyze 

 anabolic and catabolic reactions. The answer to the question of whether 

 or not antigenicity and enzyme-activity are two distinguishable or 

 identical biocatalytic properties of proteins can come from the results 

 of studies designed with this question in mind. The results of certain 

 studies to be discussed in the text would seem to show that under 

 appropriate conditions specific reactivity as enzyme and as antigen 

 may, and frequently do in fact, reside in the same specific chemical 

 configurations of the protein molecule. This view has brought us to 

 consideration of the well-known analogy that exists between enzyme 

 and immune reactions. Ehrlich, finding that toxin-antitoxin, ricin- 

 antiricin reactions are highly specific, was the first to call attention to 

 the similarity between immune reactions and those of enzymes ob- 

 served by Emil Fischer. Many investigators, more particularly Land- 

 steiner, have referred to this analogy on numerous occasions. The 

 parallelism between the specificities of these two reactions* has been 

 extended to d- and 1-specificity by Landsteiner and Van der Scheer, 

 and to a- and iS-configurational specificity by Avery and Goebel and 

 their associates. However, the question as to why the specificities of 

 these two classes of reaction approach and nearly coincide with each 

 other has remained until the present still very much of a riddle. The 

 present author has critically analyzed the known facts concerning this 

 question, and the belief has grown in him that his interpretation of 

 the basic facts regarding the above mentioned analogy and the related 

 questions present a useful contribution to the sciences of immunology 

 and biochemistry. This belief has prompted him to prepare the present 

 treatise, which he humbly offers to the reader under a new title, 

 "Immuno-Catalysis." 



