In the treatment of autoimmune diseases, intravenous Igs (IVIg) are assumed to modulate immune cells through the binding of surface receptors. IVIg act upon definite human B cell populations to modulate Ig repertoire, and such modulation might proceed through intracellular signaling. However, the heterogeneity of human B cell populations complicates investigations of the intracellular pathways ...

Dear Editor, Infusions of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) are the only established therapy for patients with multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) (Umapathi et al., 2009), but the effects are transient and the infusions have to be repeated periodically (Van den Berg, 2007). As two pilot trials with interferon beta-1a (INFβ-1a) as a monotherapy have suggested some benefit (Martina et al., 1999; v...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES We sought to determine whether high-dose aspirin is necessary for the acute therapy of Kawasaki disease (KD) in the intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) era. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Two groups of KD patients treated during the different periods were included. Study group (n=51, treated with IVIG without concomitant use of aspirin in the acute phase) was compared with contr...

Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been proposed as a potential therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its efficacy is currently being tested in mild-to-moderate AD. Earlier studies reported the presence of anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) antibodies in IVIG. These observations led to clinical studies investigating the potential role of IVIG as a therapeutic agent in AD. Also, IVIG is known to m...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Ten to twenty percent of children with Kawasaki disease (KD) do not respond to initial intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. If untreated, approximately 15% to 25% of KD patients have complications. The aim of this study was to find useful predictors of responsiveness to initial IVIG treatment in KD. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed medical rec...

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is a therapeutic preparation of polyspecific human IgGs purified from plasma pooled from thousands of individuals. When administered at a high dose, IVIg inhibits inflammation and has proven efficacy in the treatment of various autoimmune and systemic inflammatory diseases. Importantly, IVIg therapy can ameliorate both auto-antibody-mediated and T-cell mediated...

INTRODUCTION Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is an important research topic because of its efficacy in the management of an increasing number of diseases, its high cost and limited availability. This study was designed to evaluate the paediatric inpatient use of IVIG and identify strategies to reduce the drug expenditures. METHODS Over a six-month period, physician and nursing charts, and n...

BACKGROUND West Nile Virus (WNV) is endemic in Israel and a significant level of antibodies is present in the population due to natural exposure. Anecdotal cases suggested that the presence of anti-WNV antibodies in intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) from Israeli donors (IVIG-IL) assisted the recovery of patients with severe WNV infection. METHODS To enhance the therapeutic efficacy of IVIG-IL...

AIM The present study aimed to investigate the effect of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) on regulatory T (Treg) cells derived from immunosuppressed mice with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) pneumonia. METHODS A total of 108 BALB/c mice were randomly divided into the following groups: control group (Control), immunosuppressed group (IS), PA pneumonia group (PA), PA pneumonia in immunosuppressed ...

Background: Epidermolysis bullosa aquisita (EBA) is a severe acquired blistering skin disease that is often resistant to prednisolone but can respond well to intravenous immunoglobulin infusion (IVIg). Main Observations: We describe the case of a 35 years old male patient with EBA who developed clinically significant haemolytic anaemia with a drop in Hb from 15.3 g/dL to a nadir of 8.4 g/dL wit...