Effect of treatment with interferon-gamma alone in visceral leishmaniasis

J Infect Dis. 1995 Dec;172(6):1627-9. doi: 10.1093/infdis/172.6.1627.

Abstract

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) enhances the therapeutic response to pentavalent antimony in patients with visceral leishmaniasis. To determine the effect of cytokine immunotherapy alone, 9 patients with kala-azar were treated with IFN-gamma before receiving antimony. After 20 days of IFN-gamma therapy, 4 patients showed no parasitologic response; in the remaining 5 patients, however, splenic aspirate parasite scores declined from 4.2 +/- 0.2 to 1.2 +/- 0.5 (mean +/- SE). These results indicate that treatment with IFN-gamma alone can induce visceral antileishmanial activity. However, the limited efficacy in this uncontrolled pilot trial suggests that the therapeutic role of IFN-gamma in kala-azar is that of an adjunct to conventional antimony treatment.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Child
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interferon-gamma / therapeutic use*
  • Leishmaniasis, Visceral / therapy*
  • Male
  • Pilot Projects

Substances

  • Interferon-gamma