| abstract |
T cell-mediated diseases in mammals are treated using compositions comprising a polycyclic aromatic compound, preferably hypericin, pseudohypericin, and isomers, analogs, derivatives, salts, or ion pairs of hypericin or pseudohypericin. The above composition may be administered in combination with an immunosuppressive agent. Pharmaceutical compositions useful for treating a T cell-mediated disease comprise the above polycyclic aromatic compound, alone or in combination with an immunosuppressive agent. The compositions and methods are useful in treating diseases which include multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, scleroderma, polymyositis, graft-versus-host disease, graft rejection, Graves disease, Addison's disease, autoimmune uveoretinitis, autoimmune thyroiditis, pemphigus vulgaris and rheumatoid arthritis. Also provided are methods for diminishing the expression of CD4 molecules on the surface of a T lymphocyte, and for inducing multidrug resistance in a cell, comprising incubating the cell with an effective concentration of a polycyclic aromatic compound. |