title: Efficacy of transfer factor in treating patients with recurrent ocular herpes infections.
abstract: Recurrent ocular herpes is an insoluble problem for the clinician. As cellular immunity plays an important role in controlling herpes relapses, and other studies have shown the efficacy of HSV-specific transfer factor (TF) for the treatment of herpes patients, an open clinical trial was undertaken in 134 patients (71 keratitis, 29 kerato-uveitis, 34 uveitis) suffering from recurrent ocular herpetic infections. The mean duration of the treatment was 358 days, and the entire follow-up period 189,121 before, and 64,062 days after TF treatment. The cell-mediated immune response to the viral antigens, evaluated by the lymphocyte stimulation test (LST) and the leucocyte migration test (LMT) (P < 0.001), was significantly increased by the TF treatment. The total number of relapses was decreased significantly during/after TF treatment, dropping from 832 before, to 89 after treatment, whereas the cumulative relapse index (RI) dropped, during the same period, from 13.2 to 4.17 (P < 0.0001). No side effects were observed. It is concluded that patients with relapsing ocular herpes can benefit from treatment with HSV-specific TF.
authors.affiliation: Eye Physiopathology Clinical Service, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Meduri
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Scorolli
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Vinci
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pizza
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Viza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002417:Cattle; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D016849:Keratitis, Herpetic / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000276:immunology*; D014165:Transfer Factor / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014605:Uveitis / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000998:Antiviral Agents; D014165:Transfer Factor