[Effect of thymalin on immunologic reactivity of patients with non-specific lung diseases]

A total of 35 patients with non-specific pulmonary diseases were examined. Twenty-one patients were administered thymalin in addition to standard treatment. Fourteen subjects made up a control group. Immunologic studies made it possible to establish that administration of thymalin in relatively small doses (5 ml, 4-6 injections per treatment course) is an effective means of correcting the decreased characteristics of cellular immunity, favouring the normalization of the lymphocyte count and of the proportion of OKT-4+ and OKT-8+ subpopulations. The drug was found to exert no substantial effect on the other characteristics of immunity, namely on chemotaxis and phagocytosis of leukocytes, the content of immunoglobulins and on circulating immune complexes. Thymalin produced an appreciably beneficial action on the disease course in patients with preserved function of the phagocytic component.