Transfer Factors and Hepatitis C
A Non-Prescription Cytokine May be Useful for This Chronic Disease
Aug 13, 2009
Hepatitis C is a chronic viral infection that is most commonly transmitted through exposure to blood or blood products. The sharing of drug paraphernalia, tattooing, and body piercing are the usual modes of transmission.
Sexual transmission of hepatitis C or in utero transmission from mother to infant is rare. There is no evidence of infection being acquired through casual household contact, including sharing of utensils or food, kissing, or even breastfeeding.
Chronic hepatitis C can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). Even individuals who do not develop one of these complications may suffer from disabling fatigue or other sequelae of chronic infection.
It is estimated that about 3% of the US population—around 4 million persons—has been exposed to the hepatitis C virus, and most of these individuals have not yet been diagnosed. Therefore, it is expected that the number of known cases will increase over the next five to ten years, and many of these people will seek treatment for their condition. (Ward R, et al. Management of hepatitis C: evaluating suitability for drug therapy. Am Fam Phys 2004;69(6):E1429-E38)
How Hepatitis C Virus Damages the Liver
- Although the hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes some damage to liver cells by invading them and reproducing, much of the liver injury that results from HCV infection is due to the body’s immune response to the virus.
- Inflammation that arises when white blood cells attempt to eliminate HCV causes “collateral damage” to individual liver cells; over time, this leads to scarring and reduction of liver function.
- In an effort to reduce liver cell injury, doctors use medications that regulate the immune response and reduce inflammation.
How is Hepatitis C Treated?
Although a plethora of new drugs for treating hepatitis C are undergoing development, many of them will never be approved for human use because of the risk for serious side effects.
The mainstay of therapy in the United States is a combination of interferon—a cytokine that modulates the immune system—and ribavirin, an antiviral drug. Unfortunately, this treatment regimen is associated with adverse effects, including depression, hair loss, anemia and other blood abnormalities, fatigue, fever, nausea, itching, and body aches.
How Do Transfer Factors Help in Hepatitis C? are small immune messenger molecules that, like interferon, help to regulate immune cells and inflammation. These molecules were first discovered in 1949 by Dr. Sherwood Lawrence, a pioneering immunologist who headed the departments of infectious diseases and immunology at New York University.
Transfer factors
In the years since their discovery, transfer factors have been the subject of a great deal of research…and debate. Their exact structural nature has proven elusive, and—perhaps because our pharmaceutical industry has been unable to capitalize on them—many American scientists and physicians discount the utility of transfer factors in “modern medicine.”
In Russia, however—as well as in some European countries—transfer factors have found a home in the medical armamentarium:
- Russian researchers have demonstrated that patients with chronic viral hepatitis who are treated with transfer factors exhibit a normalization of liver function and a decrease in viral loads. (Granitov V, et al. The use of Transfer Factor in the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis B and e. Annals of the VIII-th Congress of Russian-Italian Society on Infectious Diseases St. Petersburg, December 2002, p. 88-89)
- These scientists found identical improvements in biological parameters (viral count, liver enzyme levels) whether HCV patients were treated with transfer factors or with interferon—but transfer factors carried no burden of side effects.
- Given these and other findings, the Russian Ministry of Health has recommended the widespread use of transfer factors as an adjunct for treating a variety of medical conditions (including hepatitis C).
While transfer factors are not part of mainstream medical care in America, they are mentioned in the Physicians’ Desk Reference for Nonprescription Drugs; they are also commercially available (4Life Research, Sandy, Utah, USA) in over 40 countries around the world.
Hopefully, further research will lead to more acceptance of transfer factors—not to mention other potentially useful therapeutic modalities—by physicians whose skepticism or arrogance may preclude enlightenment.
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