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In vitro studies during long term oral administration of specific transfer factor

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Biotherapy

Abstract

153 patients suffering from recurrent pathologies, i.e. viral infections (keratitis, keratouveitis, genital and labial herpes) uveitis, cystitis, and candidiasis were treated with in vitro produced transfer factor (TF) specific for HSV-1/2, CMV and Candida albicans. The cell-mediated immunity of seropositive patients to HSV-1/2 and/or CMV viruses was assessed using the leucocyte migration inhibition test (LMT) and lymphocyte stimulation test (LST) in presence of the corresponding antigens, and the frequency of positive tests before, during and after TF administration was studied. The data were stratified per type of test, antigen and the recipients’ pathology, and statistically evaluated. For the LMT, a total of 960 tests were carried out for each antigen dilution, 3 different antigen dilutions were used per test. 240/960 tests (25.4%) were found positive during non-treatment or treatment with unspecific TF, whereas 147/346 tests (42.5%) were found positive when the antigen corresponding to the specificity of the TF administered to the patient was used (P<0.001). When the data were stratified following pathology, a significant increased incidence of positive tests during specific treatment was also observed (0.0001<P<0.05). In the LST (1174 tests), a significant increase of thymidine uptake was observed in the absence of antigen (control cultures), during treatment with both specific and unspecific TF, but also in the presence of antigen and/or autologous serum during specific TF administration (P<0.0001). TF administration also significantly increased the soluble HLA class I antigens level in 40 patients studied to this effect.

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Abbreviations

aut.s.:

autologous serum

c.equ.:

cell equivalent

CMI:

cell-mediated immunity

CMV:

cytomegalovirus

Con-A:

Concanavalin-A

dpm:

disintegration per minute

HSV-1/2:

herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2

sHLA-I:

soluble HLA-class I antigens

KU:

keratouveitis

LMT:

leucocyte migration inhibition test

LST:

lymphocyte stimulation test

MI:

migration index

PBL:

peripheral blood lymphocytes

RC:

recurrent cystitis

SI:

stimulation index

TCCB:

transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder

TF:

transfer factor

TF-U:

Unspecific transfer factor

TF-S:

specific transfer factor

U:

uveitis

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Immunodiagnosis and Immunotherapy Unit, 1st-Division of Urology, S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Via P. Palagi 9, 40138, Bologna, Italy

    Giancarlo Pizza, Caterina De Vinci & Vittorio Fornarola

  2. Department of Statistics, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Aldopaolo Palareti

  3. Department of Genetics, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

    Olavio Baricordi

  4. URA 1294 CNRS, Laboratoire d’Immunobiologie, Faculté de Médecine des Saints-Pères, Paris, France

    Dimitri Viza

Authors
  1. Giancarlo Pizza
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  2. Caterina De Vinci
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  3. Vittorio Fornarola
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  4. Aldopaolo Palareti
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  5. Olavio Baricordi
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  6. Dimitri Viza
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Pizza, G., De Vinci, C., Fornarola, V. et al. In vitro studies during long term oral administration of specific transfer factor. Biotherapy 9, 175–185 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02628677

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