Influence of Pidotimod in Adjunctive Therapy on Serum Amyloid A and Th1/Th2 Cytokine Profiles in Children with Bacterial Infectious Pneumonia

CHEN Wei¹, TANG Jing², YING Yanqin¹*

(¹Department of Pediatrics, Chengdu Shuangliu Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Chengdu 610200, China; ²Department of Pediatrics, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China)

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of Pidotimod in adjunctive therapy for children with bacterial infectious pneumonia and its influence on SAA (serum amyloid A) and cytokine profiles. Firstly, 106 children with bacterial infectious pneumonia were randomly divided into control group (n=53) and observation group (n=53). They were given standardized treatment and standardized treatment combined with Pidotimod, respectively. Next, the therapeutic effect, medication situation, symptom relief time and complications of the two groups were compared. Finally, the serum levels of SAA, PCT (procalcitonin), CRP (C-reactive protein), WBC (white blood cell count), TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor-α), IFN-γ (interferon-γ), IL-2 (interleukin-2), IL-4 (interleukin-4), IL-6 (interleukin-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10) were measured. Th1/Th2 (helper T cells 1/helper T cells 2) was detected by flow cytometry. Evaluation of the efficacy showed that the cure rate and total effective rate of the observation group were seperately 52.83% and 98.11%, which were higher than 37.74% and 86.79% of the control group (P<0.05). The antibacterial use time, antipyretic time, cough resolution time, wheezing resolution time, lung rales resolution time, WBC normalization time and total hospitalization time of the observation group were shorter than those of the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the serum SAA, PCT, CRP, cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10) and Th2 cell ratio in the observation group were lower than those in the control group. While the IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio and Th1/Th2 ratio were higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). Meanwhile, pidotimod in adjunctive therapy for children with bacterial infectious pneumonia can promote the recovery of the disease and improve the clinical efficacy. It can down-regulate the expression levels of serum SAA. It also can change the profile of cytokines and Th1/Th2 cells, as well as improve the immune function of children.