Injections Of Transfer Factor Research Articles

Immunological features in a case of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis treated with transfer factor.

A report is given on an attempt to treat a 16‐year‐old boy with rapidly progressing subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) with soluble leukocyte transfer factor. Three separate injections, each containing transfer factor from lymphocytes of 450 ml venous blood, were given at three‐ to four‐month intervals. A remission, evidenced by clinical, immunological, and serological criteria, occurred and was sustained in the five months of observation after the last transfer factor injection. The close temporal relationship between start of therapy and onset of remission may suggest effects of transfer factor in this cast of SSPE, although a “spontaneous” remission cannot be wholly excluded.

Effect of transfer factor on lymphocyte function in anergic patients.

Dialyzable transfer factor, obtained from frozen-thawed peripheral blood leukocytes from a single donor, was given to five anergic patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis. Studies of immunological responses including delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity, in vitro antigen-induced thymidine incorporation, and production of macrophage migration inhibition factor (MIF) were conducted both before and after injection of transfer factor. Before transfer factor, none of the patients had delayed skin responses to any of the natural antigens studied. Their lymphocytes did not produce MIF after exposure to antigens in vitro and only one patient showed increased thymidine incorporation when his lymphocytes were cultured with candida and streptokinase-streptodornase (SK-SD). After injection of transfer factor, four patients developed delayed skin responses to antigens to which the donor was sensitive; no recipient reacted to an antigen to which the donor was nonreactive. Lymphocytes from recipients produced MIF when cultured with antigens that evoked positive delayed skin tests. Only one patient developed antigen-induced lymphocyte transformation and this response occurred only intermittently. Attempts to sensitize three of the patients with the contact allergen, chlorodinitrobenzene, both before and after transfer factor, were unsuccessful. The fifth patient, a 9-yr old boy with an immunologic profile similar to the Nezelof syndrome, did not become skin test-reactive or develop positive responses to the in vitro tests. These findings suggest that transfer factor acts on the immunocompetent cells that respond to antigens with lymphokine production, but has little, if any, effect on cells that respond to antigens by blastogenesis. The failure to sensitize the subjects with chlorodinitrobenzene illustrates the specificity of the immunologic effects of transfer factor, and implies that it does not function through nonspecific, adjuvant-like mechanisms. Failure of transfer factor to produce positive skin tests or MIF production in a patient with Nezelof's syndrome may be evidence that lymphokine-producing cells are thymus derived.

Transfer factor in the treatment of a case of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis

A girl with a severe case of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis in whom a partial defect in cell-mediated immunity to C. albicans was demonstrated is described. Chemotherapy with anti-Candida agents afforded only temporary clinical improvement. Although her delayed hypersensitivity skin test response to C. albicans was consistently negative, her lymphocytes underwent blast transformation when cultured in the presence of C. albicans and other mitogens. The addition of exogenous transfer factor to the culture medium increased her lymphocyte blast transformation response to C. albicans. Because of these findings she was treated with transfer factor with the aim of restoring expression of cutaneous hypersensitivity to the antigen, and providing her with clinically significant immunity to the antigen. Following a course of repeated injections of transfer factor given in conjunction with a short course of intravenous amphotericin B, her infection cleared and she has had no recurrence of infection for at least 6 months.

Transfer factor in the treatment of chronic mucocuataneous candidiasis

The use of “transfer factor” to correct a partial defect in cellular immunity to Candida albicans was studied in an 8-year-old girl with chronic granulomatous mucocutaneous candidiasis. The patient first presented at age 5 years with extensive deforming encrusted lesions on her face, head, trunk and extremities. No evidence of endocrinopathy or antibodies to endocrine tissue was found. Her general humoral immunity was intact. She had a normal complement of granulocytes and lymphocytes. Candida aggregation activity was present in her serum. Her skin test response to C. albicans extract was consistently negative. Her lymphocytes underwent blastogenesis to PHA, diphtheria toxoid and C. albicans extract. However, in the presence of exogenous transfer factor, blastogenesis to candida increased. Transfer factor extracted from her cells did not transfer immunity to non-sensitized cells. Amphotericin B therapy cleared her skin lesions temporarily, but neither fresh frozen plasma injections nor 5-fluorocytosine was effective. Following 2 injections of transfer factor, she developed a positive skin test response to C. albicans extract, and her lymphocytes produced leukocyte inhibition factor (LIF) to candida. After a third injection there was appreciable clearing of the skin lesions. These findings indicate that exogenous transfer factor can restore cellular immunity to candida in a patient with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis and may be an effective treatment for this disease.