Abstract
We have investigated the effects of combination therapy with thymosin α1 and natural human lymphoblastoid interferon-α in human immunodeficiency virus infection and have shown that in vitro this combination treatment: (1) synergistically stimulated the cytotoxic activity against natural killer-sensitive target cells of lymphocytes collected from human immunodeficiency virus-infected donors and (2) did not interfere with the antiviral activity of zidovudine. We thus studied the effects of combination therapy with thymosin α1, interferon-α and zidovudine in patients with CD4+ lymphocytes ranging from 200 to 500/mm3 in a randomized non-blinded study and found that the treatment was well tolerated after 12 months of therapy and was associated with a substantial increase in the number and function of CD4+T cells. A similar effect was not observed in human immunodeficiency virus patients treated with zidovudine alone or associated with single agents. These data suggest the need for a controlled, double-blind clinical trial, recently initiated with the approval and the support of the Italian Ministry of Health.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 23-28 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | International Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Research |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 1994 |
Keywords
- Combination therapy
- Human immunodeficiency virus infection
- Interferon-α
- Thymosin α
- Zidovudine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Biochemistry