Viktor A. Bokisch is the first-listed author of a 1969 study isolating C3a, a small fragment of the complement system protein Complement C3. The researchers connected the separated fragment with smooth muscle contraction and showed that antibodies recognizing C3a could inhibit its biological activity. This joined chemical separation with a functional test.[ref]
Isolation of a fragment (C3a) of the third component of human complement containing anaphylatoxin and chemotactic activity and description of an anaphylatoxin inactivator of human serum by Viktor A. Bokisch and others. Abstract, Journal of Experimental Medicine 129 (1969), pp. 1109–1130; DOI 10.1084/jem.129.5.1109.
The experiment illustrates why identifying a protein fragment requires more than detecting a smaller molecule. Separating it, distinguishing it from C3b with antibodies, and testing its effect gave complementary evidence. The study also found that a serum preparation could inactivate the anaphylatoxin activity, showing that generation and removal of an active signal are separate parts of complement system regulation.[ref]
Isolation of a fragment (C3a) of the third component of human complement containing anaphylatoxin and chemotactic activity and description of an anaphylatoxin inactivator of human serum by Viktor A. Bokisch and others. Abstract: antigenic distinction, antibody inhibition and serum-mediated inactivation.
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