What is TF?

TF is a collection of messenger molecules normally passed in mammals from mother to child in colostrum — mother's milk during the first few days after birth. TF is a quick and effective way to "train" the infant's immune system to recognise and react to the zillions of pathogens to which the baby will soon be exposed.

TF is present in the blood for life, in the white blood cells. It provides an important mediator in immune functioning, although it seems no-one is really sure exactly how it works. What is known is that injection or ingestion of external TF from another mammal is often capable of "fixing" immune systems that have become unbalanced or lost their effectiveness in some ways.

A personal TF history

In my case, in 1988 I became constantly ill with a series of overlapping virus-like infections. I was getting a new infection every few weeks, and taking from a week to a month to get over each of them. I was always ill. Eventually I was fortunate enough to find a research immunologist who gave me three injections of TF extracted from pooled human blood. These injections were given to me ostensibly for the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with which I had just been diagnosed and not particularly for the serial infections. But it is noteworthy that from this point I didn't have a single infection for a year and a half, and in fact my CFS symptoms also greatly improved.

Since then, the Sydney-based researchers stopped making pooled human TF due to lack of funds. I later became very ill again with unending infections in 1995. This time the same doctor agreed to make me some TF extracted from the blood of a donor (thanks Vicki!) and once again with monthly injections I was able to return to an almost normal life. Later again - same problem, but by this time they had closed down the facility for making TF from donor's blood too. (You guessed it - "Lack Of Funds"). I was reduced to IM injections of human gamma globulin which at least prevented the worst of the infections.

More recently there have become available a number of animal derived TF's which are sold on the open market for oral use. I now use these and have derived the same benefits. Some of these ("Specific Transfer Factors") are capable of transferring improved immune functioning against one or more specific infections which it is presumed CFS patients suffer from - including CMV, HHV1 and 2, HHV6, EBV, mycoplasmas, chlamydias, Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme), and others. It is assumed that these pathogens actively infect CFS sufferers in the absence of an effective immune response.

A TF which is specific to a particular bug is able to restore the Cell Mediated Immunity's "memory" for that bug, so that the CMI can initiate an effective immune response. The aim is to make the infection subside and remain controlled as it would be in a healthy person.

Polyvalent vs specific TF

Most TF's are "polyvalent" or "generic". This means that while they carry immune information on a wide range of pathogens, it is not known which particular pathogens are covered. This TF is the sort that might be gathered from pooled human or pig blood, or bovine colostrum from non-inoculated cattle. It seems that polyvalent TF does have the ability to shift the immune fuction from the Th2 state (humoral immunity dominated) to the Th1 state (cell mediated immunity or CMI). Since it is CMI that is usually compromised in CFS patients, this is a good thing.

There is a feedback mechanism within the body which balances Th1 and Th2 so that if one is "high"the other is suppressed. In CFS patients the Th2 (humoral, antibody-based) processes are a bit out of control, not only leading to excessive allergies and sensitivities but also suppressing the Th1 (CMI) side of the action. TF is able to assist in the correction of this imbalance.

"Specific" transfer factor has been manufactured from animals that have a known exposure to one or more pathogens. This means they have been inocculated with the pathogen, or that somehow the specifity has been passed to the animal. This means that you know that this TF will carry immune information to assist the body to combat the particular pathogen(s) that the TF is specific for.

For example, there are now a range of specific TFs made by Animune/Tomorrow's Foods, including one for HHV6 and another for EBV. Chisolm take a different path and make TF with activity against several different pathogens in one product. The one most relevant to PWCs is their Immunfactor #2 which is designed for CFS and is specific for the following pathogens (this info quoted from their website):

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Chlamydia pneumoniae, Borrelia burgdorferi (cell-wall deficient Lyme), Human herpes virus 6 (HHV6), Babesia, and Ehrlichia

Note that many if not all Specific TF's are the same as polyvalent TF, with the addition of known activity against one or more pathogens. Thus these Specific TFs will have the same Th1 promoting effect as Polyvalent TF. See here for an interesting interview which gives some clues on the different types of TF

So in summary:

• Polyvalent TF will generally shift the immune system towards Cell Mediated Immunity which is usually what is required for PWCs. It may also have other immune promoting effects and may assist in combating a particular pathogen, but perhaps with no certainty.
• Specific TF is the same as polyvalent, with the additional advantage of having known activity against the defined pathogens.

AG-Immune

There is another product recently available called AG-Immune, researched and marketed by Jesse A. Stoff, M.D. and sold through a company called BodyWise. This product contains "Antigen Infused Dialyzable Bovine Colostrum/Whey Extract" (Ai/E10™), which sounds like TF. The web page says that Ai/E10™ contains "cytokines, peptide neurohormones and other informational molecules." In a paper accessible from the Bodywise website, Stoff actually compares his product with Transfer Factor, which implies that his product is not TF. If it isn't, it is very like TF and appears to do much the same thing. Certainly some people have been taking it as though it is TF and calling it TF. I believe it is TF (of unknown strength and specifity) together with other immune modulating substances. Look and decide for yourself at the website and download the pdf file which details a trial on the ability of the product to modulate the immune system.

More Info

Here is some more information on TF which I posted to the CFS Experimental list in slightly modified form.

Also, a letter by Viza and Pizza, two of the modern heroes of TF research. The letter touches on medical politics and the excellent and often-asked question - "Why is TF ignored by most of the medical world?".

The other links below should give you more information than you ever wanted to know about TF. A Medline search on Transfer Factor will result in a huge number of abstracts of mostly high quality research.