[About Minimization of Expenses on Allergy Diagnosis in Children: Analysis of Consistency of in Vitro- and in Vivo-Allergic Examinations Results].

UNLABELLED: High morbidity rate of atopic diseases among children, including high importance of grass pollen as a sensitizing agent, determine the relevance ofstudies on diagnostic examination systems for appointment of adequate therapy. The research of the most relevant allergens for patients to excludeof duplicating and uninformative tests became urgent after development of a new type of diagnostic tests that does not require expensive equipment. The objective of this research was to evaluate the results of in vitro- and in vivo-diagnostic examinations of children with various forms of atopic disease caused by pollen of meadow grasses, and to choose the most significant prognostic parameters for the diagnosis. METHODS: 277 children aged 4-16 years with various forms of atopic disease were included in the study. There were performed skin prick tests and determination of IgE-antibodies levels to allergen extracts of cocksfoot (g3), meadow fescue (g4), timothy grass (g6). RESULTS: In the studied group of patients 32-50% of children have antibodies to grass allergens. There was a close correlation of antibody response on the investigated allergens, quantitative coincidence of IgE-antibodies to g3 andg4 allergens levels. IgE (g6) concentration was close to the IgE(g3) and IgE(g4) levels (85.0 ± 21.6%). Analysis of the skin tests results showed that 44% of patients have a positive response to grass allergens, and in vivo-tests results coincide with serologicaltests results, mostly in a qualitative sense. The most significant relationship was noted between in vivo and in vitro-tests in the results of testing the response to meadow fescue pollen. CONCLUSION: Based on these data IgE concentration index to meadow fescue allergens can be used as a prognostic marker to determine the sensitization of patients with different nosology forms of allergy and can help to improve allergic diagnostics.

Efficacy and safety of pidotimod in the prevention of recurrent respiratory infections in children: a multicentre study.

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) still represent a big challenge for paediatricians, especially in those children defined as "ailed" as they are more susceptible to such kinds of disease. In this paediatric population, the immune system is still under-developed with an evident alteration in cytokine levels. A clinical study was carried out in 5 sites in Russia with the intention to enroll children particularly susceptible to contract respiratory infections (defined as "ailing"), assigning them to a treatment group with pidotimod in comparison with a control group, treating them for 30 days and observing the reduction in the number of ARI episodes throughout the follow-up period (6 months). Moreover, changes in serum immunological markers were evaluated at baseline and 30 days after treatment discontinuation. One hundred and fifty-seven ailing children were enrolled and assigned to two arms: a main pidotimod treatment group or a control group. The percentage of incidence of ARIs in the observation period at three different time points was statistically significant (p < 0.05). At the end of the follow-up period (after 6 months), ARIs had developed in 72 children (92.3%) in the main group and in 79 patients (100%) in the control group. Concerning changes of the immunological markers, the treatment group showed a better profile of normalization compared to the control group. The 30-day pidotimod therapy course led to improvement/reduction in the rate of acute respiratory infection recurrence in ailing children within a 3-month period, with a quick elimination of symptoms and signs of infection and, as a result, a faster recovery. The normalisation of the content of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-8 confirmed the immune-modulatory effect of the investigational drug, underlying its prophylactic effect.