Immunotropic effects of glucosaminylmuramyldipeptide in herpes infection in children
Since preventive and therapeutic strategies of struggling with herpes virus infection are based on improvement of local innate and adaptive immunity of the mucous membranes, one of significant approaches to optimization of its basic therapy is the use of targeted immunomodulators that promote enhancement of the functional activity of phagocytes as the main population of innate immune cells. Their receptor agonists existing in the form of synthetic and natural minimal biologically active fragments (MBAF) of pathogen-associated molecules have been acknowledged as having good prospects in this respect, and in particular, glucosaminil-muramyl-dipeptide (GMDP) - immunomodulator Licopid - the only drug registered in Russia as a medicinal preparation of synthetic MBAF. The review discusses clinical and laboratory observations accumulated by now with respect to using Licopid in therapy of herpes virus infections in children (respiratory herpes infection, complicated forms of ARVI, perinatal herpes virus infection, persistent orofacial herpes, Epstein-Barr virus infection, congenital CMV infection), which demonstrate its high clinical and immunological effectiveness and expediency of its use to potentiate the body's defence in order to implement immunotropic strategies of fighting herpes infections in children.