PROTEIN SENSITIZATION OR ANAPHYLAXIS 237 



Recently, confirmation of our studies along this line have 

 come: (1) From White and Avery, 1 who have prepared 

 by our method a sensitizing group from tubercle cell sub- 

 stance. (2) From Zunz, 2 who, as the result of a most 

 exhaustive research, has shown that one of the primary 

 albumoses (the synalbumose of Pick) sensitizes, but does 

 not induce anaphylactic shock on reinjection. Zunz states: 

 Both active and passive anaphylaxis can be induced by 

 the three so-called primary proteoses (hetero-, proto-, and 

 synalbumose), but not by thioalbumose, nor the other 

 so-called secondary proteoses, nor by Siegfried's pepsin- 

 fibrin-peptone-j8, nor by any of the abiuret products of 

 peptic, tryptic, or ereptic digestion. 



Animals sensitized with hetero-, proto-, or synalbumose 

 develop anaphylactic shock on reinjection with the original 

 serum, acid albumin, hetero- or proto-albumose, but not 

 after reinjection with synalbumose, thio-albumose, the other 

 secondary proteoses, pepsin-fibrin-peptone-|8, or any of 

 the abiuret products of peptic, tryptic, or ereptic digestion. 

 The hetero- and proto-albumoses both sensitize and induce 

 anaphylactic shock, while synalbumose sensitizes only. 

 It follows, therefore, that sensitization and the production 

 of anaphylactic shock are due to different groups in the 

 protein molecule. 



Wells and Osborne, 3 working with the purest vegetable 

 proteins known, hordein from barley, glutinin from wheat, 

 and gliadin from both wheat and rye, find that: "Guinea- 

 pigs sensitized with gliadin from wheat or rye give strong 

 anaphylactic reactions with hordein from barley, but these 

 are not so strong as the reactions obtained with the homolo- 

 gous protein. Similar results are obtained if the sensitizing 

 protein is hordein, and the second injection is gliadin. We 

 have here a common anaphylaxis reaction developed by 

 two chemically distinct but similar proteins of different 

 biological origin, thus indicating that the specificity of 



1 Jour. Med. Research, 1912, xxvi, 317. 



2 Zeitsch. f. Immunitatsforschung, 1913, xvi, 580. 



3 Jour. Infect. Dis., 1913, xii, 341. 



