These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Thymosin treatment of chronic hepatitis B: a placebo-controlled pilot trial.
    Author: Mutchnick MG, Appelman HD, Chung HT, Aragona E, Gupta TP, Cummings GD, Waggoner JG, Hoofnagle JH, Shafritz DA.
    Journal: Hepatology; 1991 Sep; 14(3):409-15. PubMed ID: 1874487.
    Abstract:
    Chronic hepatitis B is a severe and frequently progressive disease. We assessed the safety and efficacy of thymosin fraction 5 and thymosin-alpha 1 in a prospective, placebo-controlled trial in 12 patients with chronic hepatitis B. All patients had histological and biochemical evidence of active liver disease for at least 6 mo before treatment and were positive for serum hepatitis B virus DNA and HBsAg. Seven patients received thymosin fraction 5 or thymosin-alpha 1 and five patients received placebo twice weekly for 6 mo. By the conclusion of the study (1 yr), serum aminotransferase levels had improved significantly in thymosin-treated patients, but not in the placebo group. Six (86%) of the thymosin treated patients and one (20%) patient given placebo cleared hepatitis B virus DNA from serum (p less than 0.04, Fisher's exact test). After treatment, replicative forms of hepatitis B virus DNA were present in the liver specimens of four of five placebo-treated patients but in only one of seven thymosin-treated patients (p less than 0.04, Fisher's exact test). Response to thymosin therapy was associated with significant improvements in peripheral blood lymphocyte and CD3 and CD4 counts and in in vitro production of interferon-gamma over initial values. No significant side effects were observed in patients given thymosin or in placebo-treated patients. Clinical, biochemical and serological improvement in patients responding to thymosin were sustained during 26 +/- 3 mo of follow-up. The results of this pilot trial suggest that thymosin therapy promotes disease remission and cessation of hepatitis B virus replication in patients with chronic viral infection.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]