Immunity in Children with Chronic Tonsillitis

Objective: 1) To explore some aspects of systemic immunity reactions in chronic tonsillitis. 2) To compare systemic immunity reactions in chronic tonsillitis in children and adults. Method: Prospective study design in 2011. Subjects: 24 children and 13 adults with chronic tonsillitis. Setting: Otolaryngology department, Moldova. Outcome measures: C reactive protein, antistreptolysin O, absolute and relative amount of B lymphocytes, immunoglobulins–A, M, G, circulatory immune complexes, interleukins IL-4, IL-8, IL-1β in blood serum. Results: Interleukin-8 is 6.5 times higher in children than in adults (P = .047), interleukin-1β is 17.4 times higher (P = .045). Level of serum IgA in adults is higher than in children (P = .038), antistreptolysin–O titre is 1.4 times higher. Conclusion: Study of interleukin-1β and interleukin-8 is useful in understunding the etiopathogenetic mechanism of chronic tonsillitis in children. Nonspecific immune factors play an important role in immune response in chronic tonsillitis in children, while in adults the main role is held by specific immune response.