TY - JOUR
T1 - Passive transfer of scrub typhus plasma to patients with AIDS
T2 - A descriptive clinical study
AU - Watt, G.
AU - Kantipong, P.
AU - Jongsakul, K.
AU - De Souza, M.
AU - Burnouf, T.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - 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 threefold 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 syncytiainducing 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.
AB - 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 threefold 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 syncytiainducing 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.
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U2 - 10.1093/qjmed/94.11.599
DO - 10.1093/qjmed/94.11.599
M3 - Article
C2 - 11704689
AN - SCOPUS:0035179498
SN - 1460-2725
VL - 94
SP - 599
EP - 607
JO - QJM: An International Journal of Medicine
JF - QJM: An International Journal of Medicine
IS - 11
ER -