An attempt to inhibit the course of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by suppressor factor.

Forty amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients were treated with suppressor factor. The therapy led to the normalization of the immunoregulatory index in approximately two thirds of the patients. The responder patients had a better clinical response, i.e. the degenerative process slowed down or it was even arrested. This favourable effect was accompanied with a significant increase in the patients' life span. When the therapy had no effect on the CD8 cells, it was discontinued. Stopping the therapy led to disease progression and death; thus, in some patients, therapy was carried out despite its failure to increase the CD8 cell numbers. Substantial clinical improvement was noticed in these patients. The mean survival of patients with ALS was 2-3 years, whereas ALS patients treated with the suppressor factor survived on the average more than 5 years.