Levamisole in chronic inflammatory diseases

Abstract

The use of levamisole in a variety of non-rheumatoid chronic inflammatory diseases has been reviewed. Both the clinical responses and the in vivo and in vitro tests of immunological function during levamisole therapy are discussed in an attempt to correlate the immuno-stimulatory properties of the drug with any therapeutic effect. It was concluded that in many diseases there are conflicting reports on the usefulness of levamisole and that there were few correlates of the therapeutic and immunological effects of the drug. There was, however, evidence that the drug may prove clinically useful and more double-blind, multicentre controlled studies with adequate laboratory testing are needed. At present levamisole would appear to be useful in the treatment of Crohn's disease, recurrent oral ulceration, and herpes simplex infections.