Low IFN-g - exhausted immune system?

not sure if exhausted is the only mechanism or description of what could be happening here.

in Dr Horowitz's last book - he describes a high proportion of his chronic Lyme patients have different forms of immune system disruption. and lists treatment for several of those.

pretty much every chronic bacterial infection interferes with or disrupts some part of our immune systems in order to allow it to survive inside us.

if it were not able to do this then our immune system would simply mop it up inside 1 month. so it's just their survival strategy and the resulting chemical imbalance measured in our systems that we are seeing perhaps?.

some herbs and supplements may be able to raise IFN-g - eg medicinal mushrooms i think

reading here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interferon_gamma
it seems IFN Gamma is vital to many functions of the immune system - and interestingly in particular to several of the mechanism the body uses to fight intracellular infections ( like Lyme and the co-infections)

in particular, it seems it is needed for cells to trigger apoptosis - which is programmed cell death ( which is one of the main mechanisms that are required to heal from intracellular infections)

Inhibition of apoptosis has been associated with Bartonella infections in particular - and some even belive that Bartonella is the key infection n many lyme patients - rather than lyme itself - as Bartonella is thought to be even more immunosuppressive by some.

this is because when cells are infected with bacteria inside them, these cells are hijacked by the microbes reproducing inside while at the same time invisible to most of the immune system.

interferon-gamma is secreted by several types of immune cells - one of them being NK cells.
lyme patients are often very low in a particular subtype of these CD57+ - and this could well be a link.
my own CD57+ count was around 1/10th of the level it should be.

this site used to be entirely free and had interesting summaries with references for supplements etc and their effects on cytokines etc like interferon - but f course it only collates the papers that have so far been done.
https://examine.com/topics/interferon-gamma/#summary
it's turning into pay for access model now - but has a free trial at the moment
( i have no affiliation)

as a note - if you do experiment with INF-Gamma enhancing herbs or supplements I would advise caution ad low doses initially as I would expect strong herx like reactions. as part of the immune system that has been suppressed for years are triggered.

things that enhance NK cell function and apoptosis certainly do that to me...
astragalus
salvia miltiorrhiza
black cumin seed oil
heat shock therapy/Intra red sauna/ hot baths
etc

i have a feeling that these immune markers are highly variable from person to person.

we humans are complex beasts and the immune system is one of the most complex bits of us.
evolution has ensured that in this particular respect we are all different as a way of ensuring a single virus cannot come along and wipe us all out
(this is also why we see such widely varied symptom patterns and severity from person to person with Covid-19/SARS-COV-2 virus )

so I have a feeling that if you measured 10 persons with Lyme INF levels - you might find some with high IFN-g and some with Low IFN-g.

some of the CFS cytokine studies I read found highly variable cytokine expression in people with CFS and only by applying very advanced statistical techniques were they able to spot any pattern at all compared to random. even then i was not altogether convinced.

so I would say that its good that you have found an anomaly and I would expect it to improve as your recovery proceeds - but i would also expect anything you can do to help normalize that immune anomaly to also help your recovery. again with the caveat that it could cause you to feel worse before it gets better.

it may also be worth considering testing for the immunoglobulins balance as if I recall correctly Dr Horowitz find that in around 20% of his lyme patients and has a chapter on immune dysfunction in his latest book - "How can I get better"

probably the best researched and condensed material I have found on the cytokine disruptions in Lyme are in the books on Lyme by Stephen Buhner - his Lyme disease second edition book is excellent

both of those are well worth a read and have helped me understand and action my own recovery

_Markus_ said...
Martin, did you take antibiotics while your blood was drawn? Many abx suppress cellular immune response, especially minocycline. I had also low IFNy while taking minocycline + disulfiram. Then I stopped the abx and started taking Astragalus and Uncaria tomentosa, which are known to be able to raise IFNy. My IFNy then trippled when I got retested. Unfortunately I cannot stay without abx.

good point!