Oral zinc supplementation in Down's syndrome: restoration of thymic endocrine activity and of some immune defects.

The article presents a study, conducted by the authors, which investigated the oral zinc supplementation in Down's syndrome. In the study, 18 non-institutionalized Down's syndrome children were given an oral non-pharmacological supplementation of zinc sulphate and monitored immunologically. A dramatic increase of plasma Serum Thymic Factor (STF) level and concomitantly an almost complete disappearance of inactive STF molecules was observed. The absolute number of circulating T-lymphocytes was significantly increased by zinc treatment. The marginal zinc deficiency was also corrected without any appreciable influence on copper plasma levels. On the whole, findings of the study suggest that there exists a defect in the bio-availability and/or in the utilization of zinc in Down's syndrome.