Ribavirin in HTLV-III/LAV infection of infants

Inhibition of growth of human immunodeficiency virus in vitro by crude extracts of Chinese medicinal herbs

Twenty-seven medicinal herbs reputed in ancient Chinese folklore to have anti-infective properties were extracted by boiling under reflux. The extracts were tested for inhibitory activity against the human immunodeficiency virus in the H9 cell line at concentrations nontoxic to growth of the H9 cells. Using a significant reduction (greater than 3 S. D. below the mean) in the percentage of cells positive for specific viral antigens in three successive assays as indicative of activity against the virus, 11 of the 27 extracts were found to be active. One of the extracts (Viola yedoensis) was studied in greater depth. At a subtoxic concentration, this extract shut off completely the growth of HIV in virtually all experiments. It did not inactivate HIV extracellularly, did not induce interferon and did not inhibit the growth of herpes simplex, polio or vesicular stomatitis viruses in human fibroblast culture. Chinese medicinal herbs appeared to be a rich source of potentially useful materials for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus infection.

A calf thymus acid lysate improves clinical symptoms and T-cell defects in the early stages of HIV infection: second report

Thymomodulin is a calf thymus acid lysate capable of inducing T lymphocyte maturation. Fifteen patients with HIV infection at different stages according to the Walter Reed classification were treated with 60 mg/day of thymomodulin syrup for more than 50 days. Two WR6B subjects had clinical and immunological parameters unchanged and died, while the patient suffering from Kaposi's sarcoma presented an evident clinical and laboratory improvement with remission of the neoplasia. The other 12 patients ranging from WR2 to WR5B showed an improvement of clinical symptoms after thymomodulin therapy accompanied by the normalization of CD4/CD8 ratio (P less than 0.001). This helpers/suppressors increase was due to a significant increase of CD4 cells (P less than 0.01) and also to a decrease of the CD8 lymphocytes (P less than 0.05). Thymomodulin administration did not cause an enhancement of the urinary levels of neopterin, a marker of T-cell activation.