Thymopentin therapy reduces the clinical severity of atopic dermatitis

Donald Y.M. Leung, Robert L. Hirsch, Lynda Schneider, Curtis Moody, Roberto Takaoka, Shihua H. Li, Linda A. Meyerson, Shiferaw G. Mariam, Gideon Goldstein, Jon M. Hanifin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

132 Scopus citations

Abstract

One hundred patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis were entered into a two-center, double-blind trial. Patients were randomized to receive either thymopentin (Timunox, n = 48) or placebo (n = 52), administered as daily subcutaneous injections for 6 weeks. Clinical extent of disease and severity parameters were measured at baseline and at regular time intervals during the study. Both the placebo- and thymopentin-treated groups demonstrated a progressive and statistically significant (p < 0.001) decline in the overall severity of their disease, but reduction in the clinical severity score was higher in the thymopentin-treated group and statistically signifciant (p = 0.04) in comparison with the placebo-treated group after 6 weeks of treatment. Of the individual symptoms comprising the total severity score, pruritis (p = 0.02) and erythema (p = 0.04) were reduced significantly when thymopentin therapy was compared to placebo therapy. In addition, both the extent of body involvement and severity index (a combined severity/extent index) were significantly reduced after 6 weeks in the thymopentin-treated group in comparison to the placebo-treated group (p = 0.04). There were no serious adverse experiences in either treatment group. We conclude that treatment with thymopentin is safe and offers significant therapeutic promise for atopic dermatitis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)927-933
Number of pages7
JournalThe Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Volume85
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1990
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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