Thymopentin therapy reduces the clinical severity of atopic dermatitis

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 s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of allergy and clinical immunology Vol. 85; no. 5; p. 927
Main Authors:	Leung, D Y, Hirsch, R L, Schneider, L, Moody, C, Takaoka, R, Li, S H, Meyerson, L A, Mariam, S G, Goldstein, G, Hanifin, J M
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States 01-05-1990
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Aged Child Child, Preschool Dermatitis, Atopic - drug therapy Double-Blind Method Female Humans Male Middle Aged Peptide Fragments - adverse effects Peptide Fragments - therapeutic use Placebos Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic Thymopentin Thymopoietins - adverse effects Thymopoietins - therapeutic use Thymus Hormones - therapeutic use
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Summary:	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 less than 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 significant (p = 0.04) in comparison with the placebo-treated group after 6 weeks of treatment. Of the individual symptoms comprising the total severity score, pruritus (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.
ISSN:	0091-6749
DOI:	10.1016/0091-6749(90)90079-J