Pittsburgh 1962/63 Revisited: Too Many Antibodies, Too Few Ribosomes?

Jerne's success in developing the plaque-forming cell methodology for determining the number of specific antibody-producing lymphocytes during the immune response has prompted scientists to calculate the number of antibody molecules produced by a single cell. In this article, calculations of the rate of antibody production are made, and a special attention is called to the number of ribosomes in a cell, the rate of protein chain elongation and various other parameters. The generally accepted notion of 2000 IgM molecules or some 15,000 IgG molecules per second (per cell) remains an acceptable estimate. The article describes the work of Ivan Lefkovits and the interaction among research groups leading to quantitative evaluations of the components of the immune system.