CLINICAL EFFICACY OF AND IMMUNOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS CAUSED BY INTERFERON-GAMMA THERAPY FOR ALVEOLAR ECHINOCOCCOSIS

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a rare and often fatal disease charact erized by a tumorlike expansion of the metacestode Echinococcus multil ocularis in the liver. Because of the severe side effects of therapy w ith benzimidazoles, we treated a patient with recombinant interferon g amma at a dose of 250 mu g over a 3-day period once a month. Disease p rogression was not detected during the observed period of 18 months. F ollowing stimulation with crude Echinococcus antigen, mRNA from interl eukin 5 was still detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by me ans of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis, and e xpression of interleukin 10 in T lymphocytes (as measured by fluoresce nce-associated cell sorting of intracellular cytokines) was elevated. These results indicate that bolus therapy with interferon gamma has so me clinical effect but does not result in a change in the T helper 2 l ymphocyte-dominated immune response to this parasite.