Disorders of Immunoglobulin Metabolism

SINCE the discovery of agammaglobulinemia in 1952 by Bruton, more than a score of diseases due to deficiencies of the immunologic system have been described. Clinical studies of patients with these disorders in conjunction with basic investigations in the laboratory have led to major insights into the sequence of biologic and chemical events involved in the immune response as well as the nature and metabolism of immunoglobulins. Two major forms of specific immune response have been considered: the delayed, or cellular, immune response; and the immediate, or antibody, response. The physiology of the cellular immune response and the genetic disorders . . .