Rationale and clinical results of using leucocyte-derived immunosupportive therapies in HIV disease

Leucocyte dialysates contain a number of substances which exert important effects on human cell-mediated immunity. In this report, we describe several properties of a designated subfraction, IMREGR-1, which is obtained by a second dialysis against a membrane having a 3500 m.w. cutoff. These include the ability to augment and accelerate reactions of delayed hypersensitivity against antigens to which the test subject has been previously sensitized, and the ability to enhance the expression in vitro on CD4 lymphocytes of the p55 subunit of the receptor for Interleukin-2. We also report our observation that in a patient with advanced HIV disease whose lymphocytes had lost there ability to properly express the IL-2 receptor, treatment with IMREGR-1 over a period of months restored the expression of the IL-2 receptor on the patient's CD4+ lymphocytes towards normal.