Biomedical subjects

B Hafkin

Publications and source records attributed to B Hafkin.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1979

Effects of interferon and adenine arabinoside treatment of hepatitis B virus infection on cellular immune responses.

Fifteen patients with chronic hepatitis B were treated with adenine arabinoside (Ara-A) or human leukocyte interferon (HLI). Cellular immune response to hepatitis B virus surface antigen and antigens prepared from herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and cytomegalovirus was measured by a lymphocyte blast transformation assay and an assay for interferon production. Measurements were made before, during, and after antiviral treatment. Unlike patients convalescing from acute hepatitis B, only 2 of 15 patients with chronic hepatitis B had significant blast transformation to hepatitis B surface antigen. One such response occurred during the pretreatment period of HLI therapy, and the other was in a patient undergoing low-dose (<10(5) U/kg per day) HLI therapy. Mononuclear cell cultures were tested for interferon production in the presence of hepatitis B surface antigen. Cells from only 1 of 15 patients produced detectable levels of interferon. In contrast, all of these patients had normal cellular immune responses to herpesvirus antigens. Transformation responses to herpes antigens decreased three- to fivefold after patients were treated with >10(5) U of HLI per kg per day. Antiviral therapy with <10(5) U of HLI per kg per day or Ara-A did not produce a detectable depression of transformation response. Ara-A produced marked lymphocytopenia and a marked lymphocyte fragility after 5 or more days of therapy. In vitro Ara-A was toxic to lymphocytes at concentrations as low as 0.5 mug/ml. These changes in lymphocyte parameters may affect the outcome of antiviral therapy.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1978

A comparison of a WI-38 vaccine and duck embryo vaccine for preexposure rabies prophylaxis.

Two types of rabies vaccine, WI-38 vaccine (WRV) and Duck Embryo Vaccine (DEV) were compared in rabies preexposure prophylaxis. Once group of veterinary students received four doses of DEV, a second group received four doses of WRV, and a third group received two doses of WRV. Adverse reactions were found to be similar for all three gorups. The antibody responses, however, differed markedly: the mean neutralizing titer after four doses of DEV was 1:75, after four doses of WRV was 1:1517, but was only 1:164 after two doses of WRV. All students who received three or four doses of WRV developed high titers of rabies antibody, making this vaccine very desirable for preexposure prophylaxis.

Adult↗

PubMed1978

Human rabies.

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Adolescent↗

PubMed1978

Human rabies globulin and human diploid vaccine dose determinations.

Veterinary students were injected with either human rabies immune globulin and human diploid rabies vaccine, or with human diploid vaccine alone. All those students who received three or more doses of the vaccine developed high levels of neutralizing antibodies by the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT). The levels of early antibody in the students receiving the combination of globulin and vaccine depended very much on the dose of globulin. The neutralizing antibody levels in the sera of students who received 12 IU/kg were low 48 hours after the globulin injection: 6 of the 25 students receiving this dose were found to have no antibody, and eight were found to have titers between 1:6 and 1:10. When the globulin dose of 20 or 30 IU/kg was administered all students had early titers of 1:11 or above and all students subsequently developed high levels of antibody.

Adult↗