Discovery of Cytokines
Barry Bloom and John David independently discovered and characterized the activity of a soluble molecule released from lymphocytes that inhibited the random migration of macrophages (currently known as Macrophage migration inhibitory factor). They loaded macrophages from an unimmunized animal into a capillary tube, and then placed medium from either unstimulated lymphocytes or stimulated lymphocytes. They found that the medium from the stimulated lymphocytes prevented the random migration of macrophages out of the tube. This showed that there was a way for cell-cell communication that did not require cell-cell contact.
Read more about this topic: Adverse Reaction To Cytokines
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