What is Transfer Factor?

Transfer Factor - a powerful pillar on which the formula of dietary supplements from the American company 4Life Research is based

The transfer factor is as specific a part of our biology as any vitamin known today. However, it is not a vitamin.

A transfer factor is a group of specific molecules that occur naturally in the immune system and are associated with the immune cells (lymphocytes). 

A transfer factor is like a set of "floppy disks" that are attached to immune cells (lymphocytes). These "floppy disks" store information about how to effectively respond to disease (called immune memory).

Immune memory contains both detailed descriptions of pathogens and recipes for their rapid neutralization.

The more information stored on the Transfer Factor "floppy disks", the more efficient the overall system - and the stronger the immunity.  

The information recorded by the transfer factors helps immune cells detect and respond to new threats more efficiently.

More about the transfer factor molecules

Transfer factor was discovered as a substance in its own right in the first half of the 1950s by the distinguished American immunologist from New York University, Henry Sherwood Lawrence. 

He was the first to extract this substance, observe its effects and give it the scientific name: transfer factor. Therefore, it is sometimes referred to in the literature as "Lawrence's Transfer Factor" ( "Lawrence Transfer Factor: Transference of Specific Immune Memory by Dialyzable Leukocyte Extract from a CD8+ T Cell Line" Jason F. Wang, Andrew J. Park, Tina Rendini, William R Levis ).

The transfer factor consists of several hundred different "particles". Chemically, they belong to the peptides (molecules made of amino acids) and have a weight of only 3000 to 6000 daltons. 

Considering the involvement of these particles in immunological processes, they surprise with their extremely important function.

What distinguishes the transfer factor?

Through his research, Henry Sherwood Lawrence established that the transfer factor molecule is an element that transmits important information to the leukocytes. It is information about health risks and responses to them. 

The transfer factor molecules, also known as "transfer factors", generate the correct immune response by transferring correct information to the leukocytes. It is called "cellular immune response" (CMI for short). 

dr Lawrence proved that transfer factors can be transmitted between different organisms. It means that high cellular immunity can also be transferred from one organism to another! 

Lawrence's research focused on the transmission of immunity to tuberculosis. dr Lawrence was the first immunologist in the world to transfer high levels of immunity to a non-immune individual using transfer factor molecules extracted from the blood of an immune individual. In other words: dr. Lawrence transferred immunity using the Transfer Factors!

Since then, science has been studying the transfer factor molecules. 

Transfer factors in research

In clinical studies, the transfer factors are still obtained from the blood by leukocyte extraction (leukocyte dialysis, ie “filtering out”). For this reason they are found in publications under other names: eg dialyzable leukocyte extract (DLE), and dialyzable transfer factor. 

Great hopes are attached to these studies because a competent (efficient) cellular response, in which transfer factors play a key role, protects against many diseases (infections, cancer and immunodeficiency, autoimmune diseases, allergies). 

It is also important in the context of the current pandemic crisis! (“Transfer Factor as an Option for Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic” D. Viza et al. Folia Biol. (Praha), 2020).

For the curious: many scientific papers related to transfer factor are available in Pubmed library. (( https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22transfer+Factor%22 )

Is transfer factor transmitted naturally from one immune system to another?

It turns out that it is. Nature developed immunization with the "Lawrence method" much earlier than he did. 

It was necessary in order to pass the cellular immunity acquired from the mother to the newborn offspring. Therefore, leukocytes (carrying "transfer factor" particles) are included in the first food that the mother gives her young. This milk is called "colostrum" in mammals. 

In birds, the mother transmits her immunity to the offspring through the yolk. The yolk is the first food for a young chick - just like colostrum is for a young mammal. The most important nutrient in the yolk is the so-called "Yolkin", which contains the IgY complex, whose immunostimulating properties have been scientifically proven.

4Life Research, based on patent US6468534B1 , recovers much finer fractions than IgY from the egg yolk - assuming they match the transfer factors of mammalian colostrum. And for years it has appeared that these assumptions are correct because supplements made from egg yolk and colostrum extracts have higher potency than those based solely on colostrum.  

Transfer factor from colostrum and egg yolk in 4Life Research nutritional supplements

4Life Research is the first company in the world to use transfer factor with colostrum and egg yolk to manufacture general-purpose nutritional supplements. It proudly describes itself as the "immune system company". It is constantly engaged in research and has several US patents pending: https://patents.google.com/?assignee=4Life+Research+LLC

The first dietary supplement it produced was 4Life Transfer Factor Classic. Based on Colostrum bovinum (cow colostrum). It was 1998. It's still on the market! We have been selling it continuously since 2004 and since then we have really (!) only satisfied customers. It is mainly parents who are looking for natural ways to boost their children's immunity. 

Although Classic is still a "miracle supplement" for parents and a huge seller, 4Life Research has developed many new Transfer Factor products as part of its research efforts. Most of them use the synergistic effect of transfer factors from two sources: colostrum and egg yolk. This advanced ingredient in 4Life's nutritional supplements has been dubbed the Transfer Factor Tri-Factor Formula.