Lactoferrin, as an indicator of inflammatory process on infectious mononucleosis in children
Authors: Bobruk S.V. 
Published: December 2018

Aim of the work — to investigate the level of lactoferrin in patients with IM at hospitalization and after 14 days and compare the findings with those that are determined in a relatively healthy group of patients. Under supervision were 55 children aged 1 to 17 years old who received a course of in patient treatment at the Vinnytsia Regional Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital for infectious mononucleosis. Given the difficulty in obtaining intravenous material in children in the state of the disease, the oropharyngeal secret (oral fluid) was selected as the study material, which was received in the morning on the on set in the upright position of the body by free graft on the 1 and 14 days after admission to the in patient department. The study used an enzyme-linked method (ELISA). The index was determined using reagents from VEKTOR-BEST, RF, by the solid-state IFA method, by the Stat Fax 2100 analyzer, USA. In order to compare and analyze the results obtained, 55 relatively healthy children who were registered at the Vinnytsia Social Health Center on the day of the “healthy child” received similar surveys. Infectious mononucleosis is a viral disease with a polymorphic clinical course. Among the etiological factors of IM are herpesviruses, which can affect almost all organs and systems. The most significant changes are undergoing the immune system, the violation of which lead stop a prolonged process of inflammation and chronicity of the process. A comparative study of the concentration of lactoferrin in oropharyngeal fluid in patients with IM and in healthy children indicates a significant increase in the conditions of the infectious process (4919.2±117.9 and 753.2±16.3 ng/ml, respectively, at p<0.01). This is absolutely logical, since in a disease the effect of lactoferrin on the activation of immunocompetent cells to fight an infectious agent. Among the examined children, the majority were with EBV etiology (41.8% — 23 children). Accordingly, the level of lactoferrin in this group of children was highest (6114.1±120.9) ng/ml. This indicates significant inflammatory structural changes in this group of children, which appear because of this virus. The smallest value of lactoferrin was in children who isolated HHV6 — (3768.4±115.8) ng/ml.

Having examined the level of lactoferrin in oropharyngeal fluid in children in the dynamics after 14 days, we compared the findings with the previous ones. Consequently, children with IM after the received treatment didn’t have a significant difference between the scores (4919.2±117.9 and 4317.8±113.6 ng/ml, respectively, with p0.05). The obtained data proved about the in complete infectious process at the time of the onset of clinical recovery. Thus, the study of the level of lactoferrin in the oropharyngeal fluid allows to estimate the immunological disorders by non-invasive method. This is very important, since venous access in sick children is limited. The value of lactoferrin can be used as an indicator of the completion of the inflammatory process, or to describe the category of children with chronic inflammation.