Robert Anderson Cooke (1880–1960) was an American immunologist and allergist.
In 1916 Cooke and Albert Vandeveer demonstrated the role of
heredity
Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...
in the origins of
allergy. According to Cooke, 48% of his allergic patients had allergies in their
family history. While the trait of allergy is transmitted through heredity, parents and children may be allergic to different substances.
In 1918, Dr. Cooke suggested a mechanism of action for allergen injections as a "
desensitization or hyposensitization," analogous to tolerance achieved in experimental
anaphylaxis induced in animals. This concept suggested that the injections of an increasing amount of allergen or
antigen slowly neutralized those
antibodies
An antibody (Ab), also known as an immunoglobulin (Ig), is a large, Y-shaped protein used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects such as pathogenic bacteria and viruses. The antibody recognizes a unique molecule of the ...
responsible for the allergic reaction.
References
1880 births
1960 deaths
American immunologists
Rutgers University alumni
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