The antiviral effect of glycyrrhizin (GR), an active component of licorice roots, was investigated in mice infected with influenza virus A2 (H2N2). When mice that had been exposed to 10 50% lethal doses of the virus were treated intraperitoneally with 10 mg of GR per kg of body weight 1 day before infection and 1 and 4 days postinfection, all of the mice survived over the 21-day experimental period. At the end of this period, the mean survival time (in days) for control mice treated with saline was 10.5 days, and there were no survivors. The grade of pulmonary consolidations and the virus titers in the lung tissues of infected mice treated with GR were significantly lower than those in the lung tissues of infected mice treated with saline. GR did not show any effects on the viability or replication of influenza virus A2 in vitro. When splenic T cells from GR-treated mice were adoptively transferred to mice exposed to influenza virus, 100% of the recipients survived, compared to 0% survival for recipient mice inoculated with naive T cells or splenic B cells and macrophages from GR-treated mice. In addition, the antiviral activities of GR on influenza virus infection in mice were not demonstrated when it was administered to infected mice in combination with anti-gamma interferon (anti-IFN-gamma) monoclonal antibody. These results suggest that GR may protect mice exposed to a lethal amount of influenza virus through the stimulation of IFN-gamma production by T cells, because T cells have been shown to be producer cells of IFN-gamma stimulated with the compound.

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Bacterial sepsis causes a high mortality rate when it occurs in patients with compromised host defenses. Severely burned patients, typical immunocompromised hosts, are extremely susceptible to infections from various pathogens, and a local wound infection frequently escalates into sepsis. In these patients, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are familiar pathogens that cause opportunistic infections. Also, polymicrobial sepsis frequently occurs in these patients. In this review, therefore, the roles of chemokines in thermally injured patients infected with these 3 pathogens and polymicrobial sepsis will be discussed. These infections in thermally injured patients may be controlled immunologically, because immunocompetent hosts are resistant to infections with these pathogens. Classically activated macrophages (M1Mphi) are major effector cells for host innate immune responses against these infections. However, M1Mphi are not generated in thermally injured patients whose alternatively activated macrophages (M2Mphi) predominate. M2Mphi appear in patients early after severe burn injuries. M2Mphi inhibit M1Mphi generation through the secretion of CCL17 and IL-10. As a modulator of Mphi, two different subsets of neutrophils (PMN-I, PMN-II) are described. PMN-I direct the polarization of resident Mphi into M1Mphi through the production of CCL3. M2Mphi are induced from resident Mphi by CCL2 released from PMN-II. Therefore, as an inhibitor of CCL2, glycyrrhizin protects individuals infected with S. aureus. Sepsis stemming from P. aeruginosa wound infection is also influenced by CCL2 released from immature myeloid cells. A large number of immature myeloid cells appear in association with burn injuries. Host resistance to S. aureus, E. faecalis, P. aeruginosa or polymicrobial infections may be improved in thermally injured patients through the induction of M1Mphi, elimination of CCL2 and/or depletion of M2Mphi induced by CCL2.