| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 17
| Issue : 1 | Page : 12-16 |
Immunotherapies in pediatric neurology during the COVID-19 pandemic: A pragmatic approach
Chaithanya Reddy, Chandana Bhagwat, Arushi Gahlot Saini
Pediatric Neurology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Arushi Gahlot Saini
Pediatric Neurology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jpn.JPN_181_20
Immunotherapy is an important treatment modality for several pediatric neurology conditions. The immunosuppressive therapies may predispose to a heightened risk of infection and fatal consequences. The paper aims to examine the immunological effects of various commonly used immunomodulators and their associated risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) infection. Immunotherapies may exhibit different effects at the different stages of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pathogenesis. Conventional immunosuppressive therapies appear to produce less favorable results or may aggravate the risk of infection, especially during the primary response phase. Whereas immunomodulators such as inhibitors of pro-inflammatory cytokines, antagonists of complement activity, and those drugs which decrease viral-neutralizing antibodies levels seem to have beneficial effects during the secondary hyper inflammation phase of infection. However, adequate clinical data is yet to be available for most of the immunotherapies. Based on the emerging evidence, the authors attempt to draw some conclusions of practical importance on the applications of different immunomodulators for children with pediatric neurological disorders in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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