Intravenous Ig therapy (IVIg) is reported to be a useful regimen in treating autoimmune diseases. In this study, we asked whether IVIg (in vitro) could increase the expression of TGF-beta, IL-10, and the transcription factor FoxP3 in T regulatory (Treg) cells, and the idea that IVIg could enhance suppressive properties of these cells. CD4(+) T cells from 12 healthy individuals were cultured in ...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the long-term effects of megadoses of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) in a small cohort of patients with relapsing primary APS resistant to conventional treatments. METHODS Five primary APS patients, 4 women, mean age 45.1 years (range 31-76 years), were considered eligible for IVIG therapy due to relapsing thrombotic events (4 recurrent venous thromboses, 2 ischae...

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is used as replacement therapy in patients with antibody deficiencies and at higher dosages in immune-mediated disorders. Although different mechanisms have been described in vitro, the in vivo immunomodulatory effects of IVIG are poorly understood. Different studies have suggested that IVIG modulates B-cell functions as activation, proliferation, and apoptosis...

plasma cell differentiation [3-8]. IVIg also modulates cell-mediated immunity. It inhibits production of interleukin-2 and interferon-gamma by T cells, induces degradation of complement factors, and upregulates/downregulates expression of the FcγRII macrophage receptor [9-11]. An elegant experiment by Zhang et al. [12] revealed additional protective mechanisms of IVIg. The binding of mice anti-...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of treatment without aspirin in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease (KD) and to determine whether it is necessary to expose children to high- or medium-dose aspirin. METHODS A total of 162 patients who fulfilled the established criteria of acute KD between 1993 and 2003 were included in this retrospective study. All patients were treated with high-dose intrave...

BACKGROUND To assess the predictors for intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) resistance and coronary artery lesions (CALs) in Kawasaki disease (KD). METHODS A total of 560 KD patients were reviewed retrospectively, including 410 complete KD (cKD) and 150 incomplete KD (iKD) patients. The laboratory data were compared between the IVIG-resistant and IVIG-responsive groups, as well as between the c...

background: mucous membrane pemphigoid (mmp) is considered an autoimmune blistering disease that  predominantly affects mucous membranes. various treatments are available for controlling the diseases, but not all of them may respond. objective: in this review, the data on seventy patients with mmp who were under treatment of intravenous immunoglobulin (ivig) are categorized and then analyzed. t...

BACKGROUND Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute systemic vasculitis of small and middle size arteries; 15-25 % of untreated patients and 5 % of patients treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) develop coronary artery lesions (CAL). Many studies tried to find the most effective treatment in the management of resistant KD and to select the risk factors for CAL. Our data are assessed on childr...