A BRIEF-HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE IMMUNOGLOBULINS AND THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN IMMUNOGLOBULIN NOMENCLATURE

On the 30th anniversary of the discovery of IgE, the last immunoglobul in identified, the discovery and subsequent naming of the immunoglobul ins is recounted. The first immunoglobulin-like protein to be discover ed was the Bence Jones protein or light chain in 1845, Over 100 years later, the final isotype, IgE, was discovered. During this century, th ere have been various names for what we now know as IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG and IgM. There was also confusion over what constituted a 'new' immun oglobulin and how it should be named. As a result the current nomencla ture seems arbitrary; however, it reflects both a historical tradition of preserving the original name of the protein as well as a rational system designed in the early 1960s to codify the basic proteins of the humoral response.