# Margie Profet

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American academic

Margie Profet Born (1958-08-07) August 7, 1958 (age 67) Berkeley, California, U.S. Disappeared 2005 Status Found 2012 Alma mater Harvard University University of California, Berkeley Scientific career Fields Evolutionary biology

**Margaret J.** "**Margie**" **Profet** (born August 7, 1958) is an American [evolutionary biologist](/source/Evolutionary_biologist) with no formal biology training who created a decade-long controversy when she published her findings on the role of Darwinian [evolution](/source/Evolution) in [menstruation](/source/Menstruation),[1] [allergies](/source/Allergies)[2][3] and [morning sickness](/source/Morning_sickness).[4][5] She argued that these three processes had evolved to eliminate [pathogens](/source/Pathogen), [carcinogens](/source/Carcinogen) and other [toxins](/source/Toxin) from the body.

## Career

A graduate of [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University), where she studied [political philosophy](/source/Political_philosophy) with [Harvey Mansfield](/source/Harvey_Mansfield) and graduated in 1980, and [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley), where in 1985 she received a bachelor's degree in physics, Profet returned to school in 1994, studying mathematics at the [University of Washington](/source/University_of_Washington) in Seattle, where she was awarded a "visiting scholar" position in the astronomy department, an allied discipline.[6] Several years later, she returned to Harvard, once again to study math.

When Profet won a [MacArthur Fellowship](/source/MacArthur_Fellowship) in 1993,[7] international media took notice. *[New York Times](/source/New_York_Times)* reporter Natalie Angier called Profet's theory that menstruation protected some [female mammal](/source/Female_mammal)'s reproductive canals a "radical new view".[8] *Scientific American,* *Time,* *Omni,* and even *People Magazine* all followed with in-depth profiles of the 35-year-old "maverick" scientific prodigy.[9][10][11][12]

Profet went on to publish two equally controversial bestselling books, 1995's *Protecting Your Baby-To-Be: Preventing Birth Defects in the First Trimester* and a 1997 follow up, *Pregnancy Sickness: Using Your Body's Natural Defenses to Protect Your Baby-To-Be*. Supporters—including U.C. Santa Barbara anthropologist [Donald Symons](/source/Donald_Symons) and U.C. Berkeley toxicologist [Bruce Ames](/source/Bruce_Ames)—considered her work a pioneering analysis of evolutionary theory in a never-before-studied, everyday context. In 2000, [Cornell University](/source/Cornell_University) researchers Samuel Flaxman and Paul Sherman provided evidence supporting Profet's hypothesis that "morning sickness" is an evolved trait that protects the mother and her fetus against toxins ingested by the mother.[13]

In 2008, Paul Sherman and Janet Shellman-Sherman found that Profet's theory that allergies are evolved ways to expel toxins and carcinogens—the so-called "toxin" or "prophylaxis hypothesis"—may explain a mysterious observation dating back to 1953 and replicated many times since: People with allergies are at much lower risk for some types of cancers, especially malignancies of tissues that are directly exposed to the external environment, even including the brain tumor [glioma](/source/Glioma).[14][15]

While research has for decades supported Profet's prophylaxis hypothesis applied to carcinogens, [Stanford University Medical School](/source/Stanford_University_Medical_School) and [Yale University Medical School](/source/Yale_University_Medical_School) researchers in 2013 reported similar experimental support applying it to toxins, specifically [bee venom](/source/Bee_venom).[16] Bee venom induces allergic reactions in some people that can include anaphylactic shock and death. Both studies were published in the journal *Immunology*.

Yale immunology researchers Noah W. Palm, Ruslan Medzhitov, et al. reported that Phospholipase A2—the major allergen in bee venom -- "is sensed by the innate immune system" and induces an immune response in mice that can protect against potentially fatal venom doses.[17]

Likewise, injecting mice with a small dose of bee venom conferred immunity to a much larger, fatal dose, Stanford researchers Stephen Galli, Thomas Marichal, and Philipp Starkl found. "Our findings support the hypothesis that this kind of venom-specific, IgE-associated, adaptive immune response developed, at least in evolutionary terms, to protect the host against potentially toxic amounts of venom, such as would happen if the animal encountered a whole nest of bees, or in the event of a snakebite," Galli explained.[18][19][20]

The 2011 play *[The How and the Why](/source/The_How_and_the_Why)* by [Sarah Treem](/source/Sarah_Treem) draws on Profet's work on menstruation.[21]

## Disappearance and discovery

Profet vanished from [Cambridge, Massachusetts](/source/Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts): according to friends and colleagues, in 2005; according to family members, before 2005. Her whereabouts were unknown for more than seven years until she was found in Boston, Massachusetts, after a long ordeal with poverty and illness. She was reunited with her family in Southern California on May 16, 2012, as a result of nationwide attention from a May 2012 *Psychology Today* article.[22][23][24]

## See also

- [Lists of solved missing person cases](/source/Lists_of_solved_missing_person_cases)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Profet, Margie (September 1993). "Menstruation as a Defense Against Pathogens Transported by Sperm". *The Quarterly Review of Biology*. **68** (3). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press: 335–386. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1086/418170](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F418170). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0033-5770](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0033-5770). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2831191](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2831191). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [8210311](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8210311). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [23738569](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:23738569).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Willows, S; Kulka, M (18 December 2020). ["Harnessing the Power of Mast Cells in unconventional Immunotherapy Strategies and Vaccine Adjuvants"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7766453). *Cells*. **9** (12). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3390/cells9122713](https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fcells9122713). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [7766453](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7766453). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [33352850](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33352850).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Profet, Margie (March 1991). "The Function of Allergy: Immunological Defense Against Toxins". *The Quarterly Review of Biology*. **66** (1). Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press: 23–62. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1086/417049](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F417049). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0033-5770](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0033-5770). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2830331](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2830331). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [2052671](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2052671). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [5648170](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:5648170).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Profet, Margie (1988). "The Evolution of Pregnancy Sickness as Protection to the Embryo Against Pleistocene Teratogens". *Evolutionary Theory*. **8**: 177–190.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Profet, Margie (1992). "Chapter 8: Pregnancy Sickness as Adaptation: A Deterrent to Maternal Ingestion of Teratogens". In [Barkow, Jerome H.](/source/Jerome_H._Barkow); [Cosmides, Leda](/source/Leda_Cosmides); [Tooby, John](/source/John_Tooby) (eds.). [*The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture*](/source/The_Adapted_Mind). Oxford University Press. pp. 327–366. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-506023-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-506023-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Mcdermott_1994_6-0)** Mcdermott, Terry (31 July 1994). ["Darwinian Medicine—It's a War Out There and Margie Profet, a Leading Theorist in a New Science, Thinks the Human Body Does Some Pretty Weird Things to Survive"](https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940731&slug=1922927). *Seattle Times Newspaper*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-MacArthur_7-0)** ["Fellows List – P"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110412005752/http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142789/k.9619/Fellows_List__P.htm). MacArthur Foundation. Archived from [the original](http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142789/k.9619/Fellows_List__P.htm) on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-The_New_York_Times_1993_8-0)** Angier, Natalie (21 September 1993). ["Radical New View of Role of Menstruation"](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/21/science/radical-new-view-of-role-of-menstruation.html). *The New York Times*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Holloway_1999_9-0)** Holloway, Marguerite (April 1996). ["Evolutionary Theories for Everyday Life"](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/evolutionary-theories-for-everyday/). *Scientific American*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/19990221074404/http://www.people.virginia.edu/%7Erjh9u/profet2.html) from the original on 21 February 1999.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Bloch_1993_10-0)** Bloch, Hannah (4 October 1993). ["School Isn't My Kind of Thing"](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,979304,00.html). *Time*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Plummer, William (11 October 1993). ["A curse no more"](https://people.com/archive/a-curse-no-more-vol-40-no-15/). *People Magazine*. Vol. 40, no. 15.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-astralgia.com_2008_12-0)** Rudavsky, Shari (May 1994). ["Margie Profet: Co-evolution"](https://web.archive.org/web/20080315173845/http://www.astralgia.com/webportfolio/omnimoment/archives/interviews/profet.html). *Omni* (Interview). Archived from the original on 15 March 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Flaxman, Samuel M.; Sherman, Paul (June 2000). "Morning sickness: a mechanism for protecting mother and embryo". *Quarterly Review of Biology*. **75** (2). University of Chicago Press: 113–148. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1086/393377](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F393377). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [10858967](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10858967).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Sherman_Holland_Sherman_2008_pp._339–362_14-0)** Sherman, Paul W.; Holland, Erica; Sherman, Janet Shellman (2008). "Allergies: Their Role in Cancer Prevention". *The Quarterly Review of Biology*. **83** (4). University of Chicago Press: 339–362. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1086/592850](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F592850). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0033-5770](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0033-5770). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [19143335](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19143335). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [42767681](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:42767681).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Martin_pp._353–356_15-0)** Martin, M. (20 February 2012). ["Research Reinforces Potential Allergies-Glioma Connection"](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjnci%2Fdjs153). *JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute*. **104** (5). Oxford University Press: 353–356. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/jnci/djs153](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjnci%2Fdjs153). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0027-8874](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0027-8874). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [22349202](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22349202).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Tsai, Mindy; Starkl, Philipp; Marichal, Thomas; Galli, Stephen J (October 2015). ["Testing the 'toxin hypothesis of allergy': mast cells, IgE, and innate and acquired immune responses to venoms"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593748). *Current Opinion in Immunology*. **36**: 80–87. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.coi.2015.07.001](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.coi.2015.07.001). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [4593748](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4593748). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [26210895](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26210895).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Palm, Noah W.; Rosenstein, Rachel K.; Yu, Shuang; Schenten, Dominik D.; Florsheim, Esther; Medzhitov, Ruslan (2013). ["Bee Venom Phospholipase A2 Induces a Primary Type 2 Response that Is Dependent on the Receptor ST2 and Confers Protective Immunity"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3852615). *Immunity*. **39** (5): 976–985. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.immuni.2013.10.006](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.immuni.2013.10.006). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [3852615](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3852615). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [24210353](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24210353).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Marichal, Thomas; Starkl, Philipp; Reber, Laurent L.; Kalesnikoff, Janet; Oettgen, Hans C.; Tsai, Mindy; Metz, Martin; Galli, Stephen J. (2013). ["A Beneficial Role for Immunoglobulin E in Host Defense against Honeybee Venom"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4164235). *Immunity*. **39** (5): 963–975. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.immuni.2013.10.005](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.immuni.2013.10.005). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [4164235](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4164235). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [24210352](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24210352).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-News_Center_2013_19-0)** Sharlach, Molly (24 October 2013). ["Bee sting allergy could be a defense response gone haywire, scientists say"](http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2013/10/bee-sting-allergy-could-be-a-defense-response-gone-haywire-scientists-say.html). *Stanford Medicine News Center*. Retrieved 20 November 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NatureWorldNews_2013_20-0)** Foley, James A. (25 October 2013). ["Severe Allergies to Bee Stings may be Malfunctioning Evolutionary Response"](https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4618/20131025/severe-allergies-bee-stings-malfunctioning-evolutionary-response.htm). *Nature World News*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Gold, Sylviane (12 October 2012). ["Women on the Verge of an Explanation: A Review of 'The How and the Why,' at Penguin Rep Theater"](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/nyregion/a-review-of-the-how-and-the-why-at-penguin-rep-theater.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Martin, Mike (1 May 2012). ["The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Genius"](http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201205/the-mysterious-case-the-vanishing-genius). *Psychology Today*.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Martin, Mike (29 May 2012) [2009]. ["Margie Profet's Unfinished Symphony"](https://web.archive.org/web/20131024213435/http://weeklyscientist.blogspot.com/2009/07/margie-profets-unfinished-symphony.html). *Weekly Scientist*. Archived from [the original](http://weeklyscientist.blogspot.com/2009/07/margie-profets-unfinished-symphony.html) on 24 October 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Maher, Brendan (31 May 2012). ["Missing biologist surfaces, reunites with family"](http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/05/missing-biologist-surfaces-reunites-with-family.html). *blogs.nature.com*.

v t e Evolutionary psychologists Evolutionary psychology Biologists / neuroscientists Bernard Crespi John Crook Charles Darwin Richard Dawkins Stanislas Dehaene Jared Diamond W. D. Hamilton Alfred Kinsey Peter Kropotkin Gordon Orians Jaak Panksepp Margie Profet Peter J. Richerson Giacomo Rizzolatti Randy Thornhill Robert Trivers Carel van Schaik Claus Wedekind Mary Jane West-Eberhard Wolfgang Wickler George C. Williams David Sloan Wilson E. O. Wilson Richard Wrangham Anthropologists Jerome H. Barkow Christopher Boehm Robert Boyd Donald E. Brown Napoleon Chagnon Robin Dunbar Daniel Fessler Mark Flinn John D. Hawks Joseph Henrich Ruth Mace Daniel Nettle Stephen Shennan Donald Symons John Tooby Pierre van den Berghe Psychologists / cognitive scientists Mary Ainsworth Simon Baron-Cohen Justin L. Barrett Jay Belsky Jesse Bering David F. Bjorklund Paul Bloom John Bowlby Pascal Boyer Joseph Bulbulia David Buss Josep Call Anne Campbell Donald T. Campbell Peter Carruthers Noam Chomsky Leda Cosmides Martin Daly Paul Ekman Bruce J. Ellis Anne Fernald Aurelio José Figueredo Diana Fleischman Uta Frith Gordon G. Gallup David C. Geary Gerd Gigerenzer Peter Gray Jonathan Haidt Harry Harlow Judith Rich Harris Martie Haselton Stephen Kaplan Scott Barry Kaufman Douglas T. Kenrick Simon M. Kirby Robert Kurzban Brian MacWhinney Michael T. McGuire Geoffrey Miller Darcia Narvaez Katherine Nelson Randolph M. Nesse Steven Neuberg David Perrett Henry Plotkin Steven Pinker Paul Rozin Mark Schaller David P. Schmitt Nancy Segal Todd K. Shackelford Roger Shepard Irwin Silverman Peter K. Smith Dan Sperber Anthony Stevens Frank Sulloway Michael Tomasello Joshua Tybur Mark van Vugt Andrew Whiten Glenn Wilson Margo Wilson Other social scientists Christopher Badcock Samuel Bowles Ernst Fehr Herbert Gintis Dominic D. P. Johnson Gad Saad Literary theorists / philosophers Edmund Burke Joseph Carroll Daniel Dennett Denis Dutton Thomas Hobbes David Hume Research centers/ organizations Center for Evolutionary Psychology Human Behavior and Evolution Society Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences New England Complex Systems Institute Publications The Adapted Mind Evolution and Human Behavior The Evolution of Human Sexuality Evolution, Mind and Behaviour Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychology Psychology portal Evolutionary biology portal

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Margie Profet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margie_Profet) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margie_Profet?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.