Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Serum Transfer Factor Boosts Immune Response to Fight Salmonella
By Willeford, Bridget V et al.·Published in Drug development research·2017·College of Veterinary Medicine·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Serum Derived Transfer Factor Stimulates the Innate Immune System to Improve Survival Traits in High Risk Pathogen Scenarios.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs diagnosed with canine parvovirus (CPV) received a new treatment called serum-derived transfer factor (TF) along with their regular supportive care. The dogs that received the TF had a much higher survival rate, with 68% surviving compared to only 32% in the group that did not receive the TF. This treatment seemed to help boost their immune response, making it easier for them to fight off the virus. Overall, the addition of TF significantly improved the chances of recovery in dogs facing this serious infection.
People also search for: dog parvovirus treatment · canine parvovirus survival rate · transfer factor for dogs
Abstract
Preclinical Research Transfer Factors (TFs) are low molecular weight (<5,000 daltons) biological response mediators. In the present study, a serum derived TF improved the ability of the recipient animal to survive high-risk infectious challenges (salmonellosis and canine parvoviral enteritis (CPV)) by altering the host's cytokine response profile. Mice mortally challenged with 5,000 colony-forming units of Salmonella experienced a group mortality of 73% while mice treated with a single 5 mg dose of the TF demonstrated a significant decrease in morbidity (7%, p ≤ 0.01). The splenic bacterial load in untreated mice was over 10,000 times higher than that in the TF treated mice. Twenty-four hours post-administration, the treated murine population expressed a rapid temporal increase in serum IL-6 (26-fold) and INF-γ (77-fold) concentrations. IL-6 can act as a critical signal regulating action against bacterial pathogens. A comparative double-blind study performed using dogs confirmed to be undergoing a canine parvovirus challenge showed that when conventional supportive therapy was supplemented with a single 5 mg TF dose there was a reduction (p ≤ 0.01) in group mortality (68% of the TF treated group survived versus 32% of the placebo group), an observation consistent with the observed increase in INF-γ, a cytokine associated with promoting antiviral activity. Drug Dev Res 78 : 189-195, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28639277/