Therapeutic application of calf thymus extract (TFX).

The semipurified calf thymus extract, TFX, produced since 1973 by the Polish Pharmaceutical Industry (POLFA) has been found to exert biological activities meeting criteria for thymic hormones. During the last 15 yr TFX has been evaluated independently by several Polish medical centers in over 1000 patients with symptomatically different but pathogenically similar human diseases, including primary immunodeficient states, bone marrow failure, autoimmune disorders, chronic skin diseases, recurrent viral and bacterial infectious diseases and some oncological disorders. Long term immunotherapy with TFX--expressing the pro-host approach--resulted, in the majority of the observed patients, in amelioration of symptoms and signs of the disease and in parallel normalization of disturbed immune parameters. It is suggested that IFX (and perhaps other thymic hormones) would support, modify and enrich future treatment protocols, especially in patients with immunodeficiency-related or chronic immune-mediated diseases.