**3.2 Dynamics of INF-α and INF-γ production**

After the comparative analysis of the efficacy of different regimens of CEBVI therapy, we analyzed the dynamics of INF-α and INF-γ production (spontaneous, serum, and induced) in the culture of lymphocytes in the first group of patients (N = 51) before the start of therapy with IFN-γ, after one and three months after the end of therapy. We also assessed the dynamics of clinical complaints in these patients after IFN-γ therapy. **Tables 4** and **5** present the data obtained.


#### **Table 4.**

*Dynamics of IFN-α production before the start, one and three months after therapy in the 1st group of CEBVI patients (N = 51).*


#### **Table 5.**

*Dynamics of IFN-γ production before the start, one and three months after therapy in the 1st group of CEBVI patients (N = 51).*

One month after the end of therapy with IFN-γ, a tendency to an increase in the spontaneous production of IFN-α was revealed (statistically insignificant), but after three months the values returned to the initial values. Serum IFN-α production did not change after one and three months, remaining within the normal range. There was a tendency to an increase in the induced production of IFN-α one month after the end of therapy, followed by a normalization of the level after three months. Thus, IFN-γ had no significant effect on IFN-α production in the general group of patients after one and three months of therapy.

From the data presented in **Table 4**, it follows that in the group of patients a month after the end of therapy with IFN-γ, the serum (p = 0.024) production of IFN-γ increased, and after three months the serum level practically returned to the initial value (p = 0.57). The level of spontaneous production one and three months after the end of therapy did not change significantly. Induced production of IFN-γ also tended to increase one and three months after the end of therapy without significant dynamics.

When analyzing the initial data of the level of induced IFN-γ, it was found that these values sharply differed in patients, i.e. from the lower to the upper limit values of the reference (281-4335 pg/ml).

In this regard, the group of patients (N = 51) was divided into 2 groups in accordance with the induced production of IFN-γ before the start of therapy:


**Figure 1** shows the data on the dynamics of the induced IFN-γ production in these groups of patients.

The results of the study showed that after the course of therapy with IFN-γ in the 1st subgroup, the content of induced IFN-γ had a tendency to a gradual decrease, while in the 2nd subgroup there was a significant increase in the level of induced IFN-γ three months after therapy (p = 0.027). At the same time, the values of IFN-γ levels in both groups remained within the reference values. **Figure 2** shows the results of the dynamics of the spontaneous level of IFN-γ before and after IFN-γ therapy in both subgroups.

#### **Figure 1.**

*Dynamics of the level of induced IFN-γ before the start, one and three months after IFN-γ therapy in patients with CEBVI in the subgroups 1 and 2.*

*Recombinant Human Interferon-Gamma: Prospects for the Treatment of Chronic Epstein-Barr… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101325*

#### **Figure 2.**

*Dynamics of the level of spontaneous IFN-γ before the start, one and three months after IFN-γ therapy in patients with CEBVI in subgroups 1 and 2.*

#### **Figure 3.**

*Dynamics of the level of serum IFN-γ before the start, one and three months after IFN-γ therapy in patients with CEBVI in subgroups 1 and 2.*

The presented data show that the values of the spontaneous level of IFN-γ in both groups significantly increased after one month. After three months, there was a trend towards a decrease in the spontaneous level of IFN-γ in both groups, while remaining above the baseline values. However, these values in both groups did not differ from the reference values (0–6 pg/ml). **Figure 3** shows the dynamics of serum IFN-γ levels after therapy in both groups of patients.

The results of the research showed that in both subgroups the increase in serum IFN-γ production was significant one month after the end of therapy (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02, respectively). In three months after the treatment course, there was a tendency to a slight decrease in serum IFN-γ, while the data obtained did not differ from the baseline (before the start of therapy levels) and from the reference values provided by the manufacturer of the test system (0–10 pg/ml).

#### **3.3 Dynamics of clinical complaints**

The next stage of the work was the analysis of the frequency of the main clinical complaints in patients of both subgroups before the start, one and three months after IFN-γ therapy (**Table 6**).

From the data in **Table 6**, one can see that in one and three months after the therapy with IFN-γ in patients of the 1st group there was a significant decrease in

