Injection of immunoglobulin in the treatment process of children with severe pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of intravenous infusion of immune globulin in the treatment of children with severe pneumonia. METHODS: Ninety-eight children with severe pneumonia who received treatment in our hospital between April 2015 and December 2016 were selected, and they were grouped into a control group and an treatment group, 49 each group. The control group received conventional treatment. The treatment group was additionally treated with immune globulin on the basis of conventional treatment. The humoral immune indicators were detected using immunoturbidimetric assay, and the inflammatory reaction indicators were detected using enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent kit. The overall efficacy, clinical symptoms, humoral immunity and inflammatory response were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The total effective rate of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). The cough, rale and fever of the treatment group disappeared faster than those of the control group, the relief of cardiac failure was also faster in the treatment group (P<0.05). The immunoglobulin G (Ig G), Ig A and Ig M of patients in the two groups compared before treatment, and no significant difference was found (P>0.05). The Ig G level of the treatment group was higher than that of the control group after treatment (P<0.05). The comparison of Ig A and Ig M between the two groups indicated no significant difference (P>0.05). The two groups had no significant differences in the content of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, C-reactive protein (CRP), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (SICAM)-1 and interferon (IFN)-γ (P>0.05) before treatment, but the content of the treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Immunoglobulin was significantly effective in the adjuvant treatment of children with severe pneumonia, and it can rapidly improve the improvement of symptoms, enhance immune function and inhibit inflammatory reaction; therefore it is worth promotion.

Downregulation of CCL2 induced by the upregulation of microRNA-206 is associated with the severity of HEV71 encephalitis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been investigated widely as key regulators of gene expression in different diseases by affecting the miRNA­mediated regulatory function. Human enterovirus 71 (HEV71) can cause a series of human diseases, including encephalitis. Chemokine (C­C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) is one of the important genes involved in regulating inflammation. However, the mechanisms underlying HEV71 encephalitis mediated by CCL2 remain to be elucidated. In the present study, reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis was used to determine the expression level of miR­206 and the mRNA expression of CCL2 in samples. Western blot analysis was used to detect the protein levels of CCL2. A luciferase assay was used to verify the miR­206 target site in CCL2. A CCK­8 assay and flow cytometry were used to determine cell proliferation and apoptosis. The results demonstrated that miR­206 was downregulated in severe HEV71 encephalitis. Using bioinformatics analysis, miR­206 was predicted to target the human CCL2 3'­untranslated region (3'­UTR). A dual­luciferase assay demonstrated that miR­206 downregulated the expression of CCL2 by directly targeting its 3'­UTR, whereas CCL2 3'­UTR mutations completely eliminated its interaction with miR­206. The expression levels of miR­206 and CCL2 were inversely correlated in cerebrospinal fluid. The expression of exogenous miRNA, which mimicked miR­206 miRNA, decreased the protein and mRNA levels of CCL2, whereas the suppression of endogenous miR­206 resulted in an increase of the protein and mRNA levels of CCL2. The present study also found that miR­206 promoted NPC cell proliferation and reduced the apoptosis of NPC cells via CCL2. The mechanism is likely to involve suppression of the expression of miR­206 and upregulation of the expression of CCL2, important in regulating the progress of HEV71 encephalitis. In conclusion, miR­206 may be useful in the prognosis and treatment of HEV71 encephalitis.

Efficacy of high-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy in the treatment of enterovirus 71 encephalitis.

To investigate the efficacy of high-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy in the treatment of Enterovirus 71 (EV71) encephalitis. To determine whether high-dose methylprednisolone pulse therapy should be used, 80 cases of pediatric patients with EV71 encephalitis were randomly divided into steroid pulse therapy group and non-steroid pulse therapy group and their clinical information was compared using statistic analysis. There was no statistical difference in the duration of fever, duration of nervous system involvement, duration of hospital stay, blood pressure, and cure rates between the two groups (p>0.05). The heart rate, respiratory rate, white blood cell counts and blood glucose of the steroid pulse therapy group were significantly higher than those of the non-steroid pulse therapy group (p<0.05). High-dose steroid pulse therapy to treat EV71 encephalitis can't shorten the course or improve the prognosis of the disease. In contrast, it has side effects and might aggravate disease condition or interfere with disease diagnosis. Our study suggested that there is no beneficial effect to use high-dose steroid pulse therapy for the treatment of EV71 encephalitis.