Louis Pillemer was an American immunologist, an early investigator of the alternative complement pathway

Alternative complement pathway

The alternative pathway of the complement system is an innate component of the immune system's natural defense against infections, which can operate without antibody participation....

 (a system of defense not dependent upon antibodies.)

Biography

Pillemer was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1908, the son of Lithuanian parents. He was brought to the United States at the age of one year, and was naturalized in 1916. He attended public schools in Catlettsburg and Ashland, Kentucky, and began collegiate work at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, later attending Marshall College at Huntington, West Virginia, and Duke University at Durham, North Carolina. At Duke he received a B.S. degree in 1930, and also completed two years in medicine.

Found dead at his home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, at the age of 49 years old, he was survived by a wife and four young sons.

Discoveries

He led a team at Western Reserve University which discovered properdin

Properdin

Properdin or factor P is a globulin protein found in the blood serum of more complex animals. In the complement system, an innate-immunity series of proenzymes dissolved in the circulation, it is also called "Factor P".-Function:...

in 1954,, and this discovery received attention from the national press as a breakthorough in immunology.

In 1957, Robert Nelson challenged these findings, and claimed that Pillemer's results were due to laboratory errors. Pillemer's death soon after publications was ruled a suicide.

Nelson's view prevailed at the time, but further study in the 1960s largely led to a confirmation of much of Pillemer's work.