Efficacy of TF in cell-mediated immunity

[AJ LANIGAN]

Title:  Transfer Factor
Author:  Charles H. Kirkpatrick, MD
Published: J Allergy Clin Immunol & J Immunol(w/Petersen, Greenberg, &
Manzara)

Transfer factor is defined as a dialyzable material or family of materials
that can be extracted from lymphoid cells of humans and certain other
animals.  When transfer factor from sensitized donors is administered to
unsensitized recipients, the recipients aquire the ability to express the
cell-mediated immune responses of the donors.  This response appears to be
antigen specific.

An example of efficacy:

61 children with leukemia & no immunity to varicella were randomly
assigned to treatment with zoster-immune Transfer Factor vs placebo.  16
of the group received the TF while 15 the placebo.

Group                   # exposed               # with clinical infection

Placebo         15                      13
Transfer Factor         16                      1

data from Steele et al

It should be noted that the 1 infected in the TF group only had 3 lesions.
 In 3 patients, of the 13 infected in the placebo group, the infection was
disseminated.

This and other clinical studies have demonstrated that transfer factor is
an efficacious method for immunotherapy of certain viral and fungal
infections.