Clinical and immunological efficacy of the immunomodulating hexapeptide arginyl-alpha-aspartyl-lysyl-valyl-tyrosyl-arginine in the complex postoperative treatment of children with acute osteomyelitis

The recurrent and persistent nature of osteomyelitis, like as associated high morbidity of patients, prolonged hospitalization and expensive treatment require development of new approaches in therapy and pathogenetic justification of the immunotropic drugs usage in complex etiopathogenetic treatment of this disorder. Our objective was to evaluate the clinical and immunological efficacy of hexapeptide (HP), arginyl-alpha-aspartyl-lysyl-valyl-tyrosyl-arginine implemented in the complex treatment of acute osteomyelitis in children during the postoperative period. 19 children aged 8-15 years with acute osteomyelitis (AOM) were studied: the study group 1 (SG1, n = 11) received a standard treatment at all the disease stages; in study group 2 (SG2, n = 8), the standard therapy was supplemented with a medical drug Imunofan, containing hexapeptide (НP) as the active substance. Prior and after the course of drug treatment, we determined the following parameters: the contents of T cells (CD3⁺CD19^-, CD3⁺CD4⁺, CD3⁺CD8⁺, CD3⁺CD4⁺/CD3⁺CD8⁺) and B cells (CD3^-CD19⁺), NK (CD3^-CD16⁺CD56⁺) by means of Cytomics FC-500 (“Веckman Coulter”, USA), the levels of serum IgA, IgM, IgG (ELISA tests), assessment of phagocytic activity of neutrophil granulocytes (NG) with determining the ratio of actively phagocytic NG (%PhAN), capture processes (PhN, PhI) and the completeness of phagocytosis (%D, DI) tested with S. aureus (strain No. 209). In the studied groups with AOM, a decreased content of T lymphocytes, T helper cells, T lymphocytes, NK cells was revealed, along with unchanged content of B lymphocytes. In SG2, the increased IgA and IgG levesl have been shown. We have also revealed a deficiency of phagocytic function associated with the processes of phagocytosis completion. The use of immunomodulatory therapy with an HP-containing pharmaceutical drug in combination with standard treatment was associated with restoration of immunological parameters to the reference values of healthy children, thus leading to shorter febrile period, milder manifestations of intoxication, earlier periods of reconvalescence from purulent-inflammatory process, and reduced hospital stay. The obtained positive clinical and immunological effects demonstrate the expediency of targeted immunomodulatory therapy including a pharmaceutical HP-containing drug as the active substance in the complex postoperative treatment of children with AOM. Restoration of the disturbed mechanisms of anti-infectious immunity in AOM under usage of immunomodulating HP contributes to more effective elimination of pathogens and, as a result, improvement of the clinical course of the disease, as well as prevention of chronic inflammatory processes and aggravation of immune system dysfunction.