Transfer factor therapy in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Thirteen 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 apparant. 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.

Demonstration of in vitro lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity against measles virus in SSPE.

Patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) are presumed to lack specific cellular immunity against measles virus. In order to test this hypothesis in vitro, the interaction between peripheral lymphocytes and measles virus-infected tissue culture cells was investigated in 10 SSPE patients. Human fibroblasts, either uninfected or carrying a persistent measles virus infection, were labeled with 51Cr and incubated with lymphocytes for 18 to 20 hr in the absence of antibody and complement. Peripheral lymphocytes from measles sero-positive and sero-negative individuals were tested, and the system was found to be virus specific. The lymphocytes from the 10 SSPE patients caused specific cytotoxicity of target cells. A correlation was not found between antibody titer and specific 51Cr release. It could also be domonstrated that target cell destruction was not mediated by monocytes or B lymphocytes. These in vitro studies suggest that SSPE patients do not have a specific defect of cellular immunity against measles virus.