110 PROTEIN THERAPY 



reactions that can be obtained with the serum antiferment. There is 

 much evidence that the antiferment lipoids are in more or less close 

 physical combination with the serum albumin. With this fraction 

 they are thrown out of solution with the usual methods of separating 

 the serum proteins. 



Clinically it is known that the antiferment is augmented during 

 a number of conditions, notably in the acute infections, in pregnancy, 

 in carcinoma and cachectic states in general; following anaphylactic 

 and other shock reactions, including therapeutic vaccination, and in 

 certain pathologic processes of the central nervous system char- 

 acterized by degenerative changes. In other words, the increase in 

 antiferment is part and parcel of a general reaction phenomenon 

 of the body. This increase seems purposeful in that an increase in 

 the antiferment titer would tend to counteract the negative nitrogen 

 balance incident to the heightened destruction of proteins of the body 

 commonly observed in toxic conditions. 



This relation of the antiferment to the rate of protein metabolism 

 has been worked out in rabbits and dogs during inanition by Jobling 

 and Petersen. They found that the execretion of nitrogen in the 

 starving animal was in inverse proportion to the amount of antifer- 

 ment in the serum, as will be apparent from the following table: 



Animal % Inhibition Nitrogen Excreted 



No. (Average for 5 Days) (Total for 5 Days) 



1 41% 4.24 gms. 



2 66% 2.95 gms. 



3 71% 1.97 gms. 



4 73% 1.99 gms. 



This holds true evidently for the human, although it has not yet 

 been fully worked out in normal individuals. Wilson, for instance, 

 noted the increased storage of nitrogen during pregnancy, a condi- 

 tion associated with a well-marked increase in the antiferment titer. 

 After vaccine shock or protein shock we often find the same increase 

 in weight during the time when the antiferment titer is increased. 

 Thus Holler injected himself over a period of two weeks with daily 

 intravenous doses of 1 c.c. of deuteroalbumose solution (10%) ; there 

 was no clinical reaction corresponding to that observed in patients 

 ill from any disease. The chill, sweating and temperature were all 

 absent but he gained in weight during the course of the injections. 

 This has been the general experience of the clinic as well as the labora- 

 tory. 



If we keep these simple enzyme balances in mind, many of the 

 changes which are encountered following nonspecific therapeutic in- 

 jections will appear quite simple and logical. One balance consists 

 of (a) the true proteases capable of splitting native proteins all the 



