Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
1997-6-16
pubmed:abstractText
The efficacy of long-term, high dose interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) therapy was studied in seven patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM)/tropical spastic paraparesis (TSP). IFN-alpha was administered at a dose of 6 x 10(6) international units daily for the initial 2 weeks and thereafter 3 times a week for the following 22 weeks. Five patients showed a sustained improvement in motor performance during and up to 6 months after the completion of IFN-alpha. The other patient who responded to IFN-alpha initially dropped out at 3 months because of depression, while another patient first deteriorated and thereafter dropped out. In the six responders, the absolute number of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) harboring the HTLV-I genome as evaluated by the quantitative polymerase chain reaction method decreased significantly during the therapy period (28.6 +/- 16.6% reduction, P = 0.0083), whereas the one deteriorated patient showed a 2.5-fold increase in HTLV-I-infected cells. The autoproliferation of CD4+ T clone cells from a single cell culture was markedly depressed even after the cessation of IFN-alpha in the responders who completed long-term IFN-alpha therapy. In addition, the CD8+DR+ T cells in the peripheral blood and soluble IL-2 receptor levels in the sera increased significantly during the therapy in all patients (P = 0.0431 and P = 0.0041, respectively). Therefore, the results of our study suggested that both the reduction of HTLV-I proviral DNA load and immunomodulation by long-term IFN-alpha therapy contributed to its sustained clinical benefits.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Apr
pubmed:issn
0022-510X
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
15
pubmed:volume
147
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
135-44
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1997
pubmed:articleTitle
Long-term, high dose interferon-alpha treatment in HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis: a combined clinical, virological and immunological study.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Clinical Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't