The effect of Levamisole on peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis

Abstract

Although Levamisole, an antihelmintic drug, has shown to have some modulatory effect on the immune response in clinical trials and experimental models, its mode of action remains obscure. In a group of fifteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis receiving Levamisole on an intermittant regime, simultaneous determinations of the lymphocyte subpopulations were made prior to Levamisole administration and 3 months thereafter. No significant changes were observed either in the absolute or in the relative number of T- and B-cell populations, while a statistically significant reduction was found in the "null" cells. These findings suggest that the immune potentiating effect of Levamisole may at least partially be due to a maturation process of the "null" cells.