Effectiveness and safety of co-administration of moxifloxacin with netilmicin in drug-resistant tuberculosis patients, and its impact on inflammatory factors and immune function

Abstract

Purpose: To study the effectiveness and safety of co-administration of moxifloxacin with netilmicin in drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients, and its impact on levels of inflammatory factors and immune function. Methods: We enrolled 100 patients with drug-resistant TB admitted to People’s Hospital of Rizhao between May 2017 and October 2019. The patients were randomly allocated to control group and study group, with 50 patients per group. The control group received moxifloxacin at a dose of 0.2 g t.i.d. for 6 months and the study group received netilmicin at a dose of 0.1 g t.i.d. plus. The response, incidence of adverse reactions, expression levels of inflammatory factors, immune function, and sputum-negative status after 2, 4 and 6 months of TB treatment were compared. Results: The study group showed markedly higher response than the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, there were lower incidence of adverse effects in the study group than in the control group (p < 0.05). The expression levels of inflammatory factors were significantly lower in the study group, while the concentrations of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ were markedly higher (p < 0.05). After 2, 4 and 6 months of TB treatment, cases of sputum-negative conversion were significantly higher in the study group than in the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Co-administration of moxifloxacin with netilmicin produces much higher effectiveness and safety than moxifloxacin monotherapy, decreases inflammatory factor levels and improves immune function in patients with drug-resistant TB.