title: Passive transfer of scrub typhus plasma to patients with AIDS: a descriptive clinical study.
abstract: We examined the HIV-inhibitory effects previously found to be associated with scrub typhus infection. Individual 500 ml units of plasma from donors with mild scrub typhus were safety-tested, subjected to virucidal heat treatment, and administered to 10 HIV-1-infected recipients who were not receiving antiretroviral drugs. HIV-1 copy number fell three-fold or more in two recipients, and virus burden was reduced for 8 weeks in 70% (7/10) of recipients of a single plasma infusion, compared with the mean of three pre-infusion measurements. Scrub typhus donor plasma inhibited HIV-1 in vitro compared with normal human plasma and media controls. In the clearest in vivo response, reduction in viral load was accompanied by clinical improvement, a switchback from the syncytia-inducing to the non-syncytia-inducing phenotype, and decreases in CD8 cells and IL-6 levels. Scrub typhus infections can generate heat-stable, transferable plasma factors that exert prolonged anti-HIV effects. Whether variability in the results is due to different scrub typhus infections, different HIV infections or different individual responses, is unclear.
authors.affiliation: Retrovirology Department, USAMC, Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangkok, Thailand. wattgh@thai.amedd.army.mil
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Watt
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kantipong
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jongsakul
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Burnouf
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy* / Q000821:virology; D019264:Adoptive Transfer / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D016913:Blood Component Transfusion / Q000379:methods; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012285:Orientia tsutsugamushi / Q000276:immunology; D010641:Phenotype; D010949:Plasma / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D012612:Scrub Typhus / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D019332:Endothelin-1; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016209:Interleukin-8; D053491:Proteinase Inhibitory Proteins, Secretory; D011506:Proteins; D007073:Immunoglobulin E