X-Message-Number: 12862 From: Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 17:03:58 EST Subject: Re: Rhoades' immunology question Re Phil Rhoades question: << Does anyone have any idea how these nano-bots made out of carbon and iron etc will be treated by the body's immunological defenses? Will they cause allergic reactions? If they are attacked and coated by biological molecules - will they be able to clean themselves or just rely on their numbers to get the job done? >> If there is an immunological response to one's nanomachines, it would be relatively easy to target the specific clones of T cells which respond to that particular nanomachine and kill them off with toxin-tagged antigen. (Remember, you have millions of different immune system cell genomes (developed through genetic rearrangement), but each cell can only respond to one antigen. Well, maybe a couple similar antigens.) This sort of thing is already done; a treatment for autoimmune arthritis might eventually be done this way. As long as the nanomachines didn't have too many types of antigen site, you wouldn't be poking too many holes in your antibody defenses. -- Bill Walker Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=12862