Research Brief
University of Nevada/Whittemore Peterson Institute researchers presented data suggesting that the drug Ampligen (poly I: poly C12U) can boost natural killer (NK) cell activation in people with chronic fatigue syndrome who test positive for XMRV. This may explain why Ampligen has been shown to alleviate symptoms in some chronic fatigue syndrome patients. Data were presented May 9 to immunologists attending a conference called Immunology 2010.
NK cells in your immune system destroy infected cells and are the body's first line of defense at keeping infection from spreading. Studies show that some people with chronic fatigue syndrome have low NK cell function.
Ampligen is a long-studied drug that was before the FDA for approval last year. The FDA denied the application but gave recommendations to the manufacturer about additional studies that could help the drug be approved down the road. Ampligen modulates the immune system and is believed to "jump start" the body's natural anti-viral defenses.
XMRV is a retrovirus that preliminary research ties to chronic fatigue syndrome and prostate cancer.
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I have read on various message boards that some CFS patients have already been on Ampligen (with great results), if this is correct, how?
Is Ampligen having trials/studies, and how do you get involved in them?
This sounds promising for me, a 10 year sufferer!!
I would really like to see this poster, as I would like to know their biologic-logic for why this is relevant.
XMRV has no obvious (or thus far demonstrable) means for down-regulating MHC, and WPI has had difficulty identifying anti-XMRV antibodies in their “positive” patients.
Makes it difficult for NK cells to be helpful, “stimulated” or not.
I would also like to know why they are bothering with a drug that has been rejected by the FDA for decades. If Ampligen does not help with HIV, why would it “help” for XMRV?
Blue Sky you are just going to have to wait like all of us until it’s published . I for one have a lot of faith and hope in the WPI
Jettland: Ampligen has been trialed in CFS/ME patients since the 1980s. Thousands of patients have been on it in the United States, Canada and Europe, but many have had to pay for it out of pocket, and it costs thousands of dollars a month.
Luckily there is a safe and inexpensive way to boost NK cell function in CFS/ME: low dose naltrexone. LDN boosts levels of beta endorphin (which is low in CFS/ME) and beta endorphin has been shown to control NK cell function.
nancy keiser was the first cfs patient on ampligen in the united states and has passed away. i was suppose to be the first patient in canada on ampligen and that company never came through on their promises! one of the main investors in ampligen was a man who invented the fax machine!he had cancer and used ampligen and he also passed away!ampligen for years has been given such hype and praise for cfs and cancers! if this drug was such a fabulous medicine then why has the f.d.a. been so tough on this company to get it fully to market! one doctor i know who devotes a lot of his time to cfs patients told me one day in his office in montreal. “i would not touch ampligen with a 10 foot pole.” i hope this answers a lot to all of you out there. sincerely, aidan walsh southampton, united in the kingdom…
i know quite a few who were helped tremendously by ampligen. sadly, even though it has been “available” in canada since 1996, no one with CFS is getting it, to my knowledge. i heard there was a doctor in montreal giving it to an HIV patient from NYC.
no one really knows exactly why it works in CFS….i know it stimulates interferon production….
the doctor in montreal who was to administer ampligen to me was an immunologist at the montreal general hospital by the name of dr. dave thomson! i did all the running around in canada for hem pharmaceuticals and they promised me the drug and never came through on their promises! another thing hem loves to do is pull the drug from patients without any notice! i knew nancy kaiser well and we used to communicate all of the time and she told me numerous times that hem played a lot with their data and never wrote or spoke the truth! they do not deserve any f.d.a. aproval! they are a corrupt and fraudulent compant! she even told me the drug side affects were worse than the illness! when this woman died she donated her complete remains to gail kansky of ncf in boston where an autopsy was done on her which lasted over several months because she wanted her autopsy to help all people with the illness! god bless you nancy and i will always miss you and not to worry princess you are now sitting next to god and looking down at us all! one thing about this lady even in her death and prior to this she showed all of us she was not selfish! she hated the nih/cdc with the greatest of passion and felt they were a corrupt criminal organization! atleast now nancy since you are in heaven you know that these scums will not be going there as they will rot in hell’s fire! rest in peace nancy and may god always bless you angel!! sincerely aidan walsh southampton u.k.
yes hemispherex is poorly run i think but i personally know people who were almost recovered with ampligen. i dont know why it works for some and not others.