Dzherelo (Immunoxel) as adjunctive therapy to standard antituberculosis treatment in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis : a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials
Date
2021-05-26
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC (part of Springer Nature)
Abstract
Background: Dzherelo (Immunoxel) is one of the few approved immunomodulators that has been shown to
produce positive treatment outcomes in patients with tuberculosis (TB). The aim of this review was to assess the
effectiveness of Immunoxel used as adjunct therapy with conventional anti-TB therapy for the treatment of
pulmonary TB.
Methods: Comprehensive search was conducted in different major databases: PubMed (MEDLINE), EMBASE (OVID),
Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Scopus (Elsevier). We also searched Google Scholar along
with trial registries and hand-searched the reference list of identified original research as well as review articles.
Conference proceedings of relevant TB and lung disease annual conferences were also screened. Two independent
authors extracted outcome data using a standardised extraction form. Relative risk (RR), mean difference (MD) and
standardised mean difference (SMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were used as measures of effect. We
assessed certainty of evidence using GRADE.
Results: Six clinical trials, which met the criteria for the review, were identified, and these provided data for the
review. Overall results from the six trials that compared antituberculosis treatment (ATT) alone versus ATT and
Immunoxel, and ATT and placebo versus ATT and Immunoxel showed an increased number of patients becoming
sputum-negative in the Immunoxel group (RR 3.19; 95% CI 2.44 to 4.17; 488 participants). There was also reduction
in body temperature among patients receiving Immunoxel compared to ATT alone (MD −0.20, 95% CI −0.22 to
−0.18, 345 participants). However, there were no differences in body weight changes across all the studies (MD
5.65; 95% CI −0.80 to 12.11; 382 participants).
Conclusion: Current evidence indicates that the use of Immunoxel as an adjunctive treatment in patients with
pulmonary tuberculosis has the potential to enhance the efficacy of antituberculosis treatment. However, welldesigned,
conducted and adequately powered clinical trials are needed to establish the effectiveness of this
adjunctive treatment.
Description
CITATION: Kitenge, M., et al. 2021. Dzherelo (Immunoxel) as adjunctive therapy to standard antituberculosis treatment in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis : a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Systematic Reviews, 10:157, doi:10.1186/s13643-021-01698-2.
The original publication is available at https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com
The original publication is available at https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com
Keywords
Dzherelo (Immunoxel), Tuberculosis -- Treatment, Immunological adjuvants -- Therapeutic use
Citation
Kitenge, M., et al. 2021. Dzherelo (Immunoxel) as adjunctive therapy to standard antituberculosis treatment in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis : a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Systematic Reviews, 10:157, doi:10.1186/s13643-021-01698-2