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

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 (IF...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC infectious diseases 2014-03, Vol.14 (1), p.166-166, Article 166
Main Authors: 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
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Antifungal Agents - therapeutic use
Aspergillosis - drug therapy
Aspergillus
Candida
Candidiasis, Invasive - drug therapy
Combined Modality Therapy
Echinocandins - therapeutic use
Female
Fungi
Health aspects
Hospitals
Humans
Immune system
Immunotherapy
Interferon-gamma - therapeutic use
Life Sciences
Male
Medical research
Medical treatment
Medicine, Experimental
Middle Aged
Mortality
Prospective Studies
Recombinant Proteins - therapeutic use
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Summary: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. 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. 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. 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. ClinicalTrials.gov--NCT01270490.
ISSN:1471-2334
1471-2334
DOI:10.1186/1471-2334-14-166