Transfer factors and orphaned disease states like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, post-Lyme and Fibromyalgia

Currently, in addition to well-known and aggressively treated ailments like cancer, members of the public and the doctors that treat them are wrestling with a long list of diseases that are poorly understood and for which no current, effective treatment paradigms exist. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Lyme disease is caused by a tick born bacteria. If caught early, it can usually be eradicated by traditional antibiotic therapy. However, if not caught early, and even in some cases where it is, many patients go on to develop troubling and persistent problems – like arthritis, facial palsies, intermittent flu-like symptoms, and others. Once this occurs, even IV antibiotics can be ineffective at bringing patients relief. In all likelihood, this has to do with the fact that the Lyme spirochete can shed its cell wall and set up shop inside of host cells, including immune cells. They take on a form called mycoplasma and begin to function more like viruses than bacteria. Currently, there are a few products from a few different companies available to the public (including ImmuneTransfer C and NI LY-TF) that contain transfer factors for cell-wall deficient Lyme. Time will tell whether these designer immune boosting supplements can help patients suffering from Lyme recover. The odds seem good.

Another so-called orphaned disease state is Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). Anyone who has suffered from this syndrome -- characterized by cognitive impairments that can reach frightening intensity (brain fog), widespread physical discomfort, dizziness upon standing, aching fatigue, widespread back pain, poor sleep and other symptoms -- has probably learned the hard way that Western medicine is currently impotent at dealing with this condition, as well as related conditions like fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis.

As we will see in a later section, drug company drugs for immune conditions often suppress the immune system, leading to temporary relief of symptoms but setting patients up for a progression of the underlying pathology and perhaps making them much worse in the long run! See Amgen and Wyeth's warnings about their immuno-suppressor, Enbrel, in the section on "Disease Prevention". According to the company, taking the self-injected drug Enbrel for arthritis can lead to multiple sclerosis and a host of scary side effects. Similarly, cortisol-like products, including Prednisone, bring relief from inflammation by suppressing the immune system, setting the patient up for a laundry list of other disease states.

The current lapse in judgment on the part of MDs treating these conditions is reminiscent of what happened in the early 20th century when the American Medical Association (AMA) still recommended alcohol as a first line treatment for snake bites. Indeed, use of alcohol as a medicine was one of the reasons that the AMA opposed prohibition. There are several reports of doctors treating snake bite patients with increasing doses of alcohol until the point of death, only to blame the death on a failure to successfully treat the patient's snake bite. Suppressing the immune system, even at the risk of death, in order to treat symptoms of immune flare up rather than getting at the underlying pathology causing the immune flare up is equally misguided in my opinion.

In many cases, it appears that CFIDS sufferers -- as well as MS sufferers, those with fibromyalgia and post-Lyme or post-viral sydromes -- exhibit weaknesses in immune system functioning, perhaps combined with chronic activation of some aspects of the immune system. Weaknesses in the immune system place some sufferers at risk for becoming infested with pathogens. Chronic activation of the immune system, presumably in an effort to deal with these pathogens, could explain symptoms like diffuse back pain, lethargy, depression, anxiety, and fatigue (see the subsequent section on immune system activation and psychological well-being). In patients that fit this profile, transfer factors have the potential to work wonders. In a very small number of clinical trials, transfer factors have been found to be effective for some sufferers of CFIDS – but, importantly, not others.

A recent report by Dr. Nancy Klimas, a highly respected researcher and one of the world's foremost authorities on CFIDS, and her colleagues suggests that female sufferers can be sorted according to Natural Killer cell levels (Seigel et al., 2006). Those with below normal levels tend to exhibit greater levels of cognitive dysfunction, reduced drive, and greater difficulties functioning during the day. It seems logical to postulate that subjects in this subgroup might be particularly good candidates for benefiting from the Natural Killer cell-enhancing effects of transfer factors.

Relative to controls, a larger percentage of sufferers of CFIDS test positive for active infections with HHV6 (one of eight strains of the herpes virus). This virus is also present in the vast majority of sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) who exhibit a pattern of relapses and remissions, suggesting possible immunodeficiency in sufferers of this syndrome, as well. While these viruses, and the immune activation that follows, probably cause many of the symptoms of CFIDS , MS and other conditions, these infections are primarily symptomatic of some more basic, underlying problem in the individual. The nature of the underlying problem varies from person to person, but immune system dysfunction seems to be a common denominator. The role that transfer factors could play in correcting these abnormalities is yet to be elucidated. Researchers recently reported that they successfully treated 21 of 25 CFIDS sufferers with the antiviral drug, valgancyclovir (Valcyte), a prodrug of acycolovir (meaning that it is converted to acyclovir once in the body). All patients tested positive for HHV6 and Epstein-Barr prior to treatment. Click the link to read the press release (press release).
The study confirms the link between CFIDS and herpes viruses and demonstrates that dealing with the viruses can improve the lives of those who are ill. As we will discuss in a subsequent section, several formulations of transfer factor supplements are available that contain immune instructions for helping the body recognize and battle HHV6, Epstein-Barr and others.