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Interferon-gamma as adjunctive immunotherapy for invasive fungal infections: a case series

BACKGROUND: Invasive fungal infections are very severe infections associated with high mortality rates, despite the availability of new classes of antifungal agents. Based on pathophysiological mechanisms and limited pre-clinical and clinical data, adjunctive immune-stimulatory therapy with interfer...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Delsing, Corine E, Gresnigt, Mark S, Leentjens, Jenneke, Preijers, Frank, Frager, Florence Allantaz, Kox, Matthijs, Monneret, Guillaume, Venet, Fabienne, Bleeker-Rovers, Chantal P, van de Veerdonk, Frank L, Pickkers, Peter, Pachot, Alexandre, Kullberg, Bart Jan, Netea, Mihai G
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987054/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24669841
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-14-166
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Invasive fungal infections are very severe infections associated with high mortality rates, despite the availability of new classes of antifungal agents. Based on pathophysiological mechanisms and limited pre-clinical and clinical data, adjunctive immune-stimulatory therapy with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) may represent a promising candidate to improve outcome of invasive fungal infections by enhancing host defence mechanisms. METHODS: In this open-label, prospective case series, we describe eight patients with invasive Candida and/or Aspergillus infections who were treated with recombinant IFN-γ (rIFN-γ, 100 μg s.c., thrice a week) for 2 weeks in addition to standard antifungal therapy. RESULTS: Recombinant IFN-γ treatment in patients with invasive Candida and/or Aspergillus infections partially restored immune function, as characterized by an increased HLA-DR expression in those patients with a baseline expression below 50%, and an enhanced capacity of leukocytes from treated patients to produce proinflammatory cytokines involved in antifungal defence. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides evidence that adjunctive immunotherapy with IFN-γ can restore immune function in fungal sepsis patients, warranting future clinical studies to assess its potential clinical benefit. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov - NCT01270490