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Transfer factor therapy in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

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Summary

Thirtecn patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (S.S.P.E.) at different stages of the disease were admitted for transfer factor treatment. The transfer factor was prepared from non-selected blood bank donors. The activity of the transfer factor was tested in patients with diseases other than S.S.P.E. and was found to be either clinically or immunologically active.

Regardless of the number of transfer factor units applied a significant influence on the course of the disease was not appearant. The observed intermittant improvement of 3 patients was considered as spontaneous remission which is known to occur occasionally in S.S.P.E. The humoral and cellular immune response before and after transfer factor therapy did not reveal significant changes which could be correlated with transfer factor therapy.

Zusammenfassung

13 S.S.P.E.-Patienten in verschiedenen Krankheitsstadien wurden einer Transfer-Faktor-Therapie unterzogen. Der Transfer-Faktor wurde aus Lymphocyten von nichtselektionierten Blutspendern hergestellt und seine biologische Aktivität in Nicht-S.S.P.E.-Patienten mit immunologischem Defekt getestet. Die Aktivität des Transfer-Faktors wurde klinisch und immunologisch dokumentiert.

Unabhängig von der Anzahl der eingesetzten Transfer-Faktor-Einheiten konnte bei den S.S.P.E.-Patienten eine signifikante Beeinflussung des Krankheitsbildes nicht beobachtet werden, obwohl intermittierend bei 3 Kindern Remissionen auftraten. Diese Zustandsveränderungen werden als spontane Remissionen angesehen, wie sie gelegentlich bei S.S.P.E.-Patienten auftreten. Die humoralen und cellulären Immunreaktionen nach Transfer-Faktor-Applikation zeigten keine signifikanten Veränderungen, die zur Transfer-Faktor-Therapie korrelierbar gewesen wären.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Göttingen

    Y. M. Käckell & W. H. Kreth

  2. Department of Medicine, University Hospital, Zürich

    P. J. Grob

  3. Institute of Virology, Würzburg

    R. Kibler & V. ter Meulen

Authors
  1. Y. M. Käckell
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  2. P. J. Grob
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  3. W. H. Kreth
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  4. R. Kibler
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  5. V. ter Meulen
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Additional information

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Schwerpunktprogramm “Multiple Sklerose und verwandte Entmarkungskrankheiten”, and the Central Laboratory of the Swiss Red Cross Blood Transfusion Centers, Berne, Switzerland.

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Käckell, Y.M., Grob, P.J., Kreth, W.H. et al. Transfer factor therapy in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis. J. Neurol 211, 39–49 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312462

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312462

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