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Ribosomal Immunotherapy for Recurrent Respiratory Tract Infections in Children

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Abstract

Recurrent respiratory tract infections are common in children. They reflect the immaturity of the immune system in its encounter with environmental antigens. Little or no specific protective immune response has yet been established. These infections represent an important public health problem in terms of both treatment (anti-inflammatory or antibacterial drugs for children) and economy.

Immunotherapy has been proposed as a means of preventing these recurrent infections by providing children with small doses of inactive bacterial antigens liable to trigger specific and protective immune responses. Among such drugs, ribosomal preparations (to which this review is limited) appear to be not only well tolerated, but also ideally targeted to induce mucosal responses. One preparation of ribosomal mucosal vaccine is commercially available in several countries. Numerous clinical trials in the world have confirmed the positive role of this mucosal ribosomal bacterial vaccine in significantly reducing the number of infections, courses of antibacterials, and absenteeism. In vitro and ex vivo investigations have confirmed that such vaccines indeed trigger protective specific immune responses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Drs Gérard Normier, Anne Marie Perruchet and Anne Marie Thomas for fruitful collaboration on the topic of ribosomal immunotherapy.

No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine of Nancy, Immunology Laboratory of the University Hospital, BP 184, 54500, Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France

    Marie C. Béné & Gilbert C. Faure

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  1. Marie C. Béné
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  2. Gilbert C. Faure
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Correspondence to Marie C. Béné.

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Béné, M.C., Faure, G.C. Ribosomal Immunotherapy for Recurrent Respiratory Tract Infections in Children. Pediatr-Drugs 5, 223–228 (2003). https://doi.org/10.2165/00128072-200305040-00002

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