IVIg selectively and rapidly decreases circulating pathogenic autoantibodies in pemphigus vulgaris

Intraveneous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is increasingly used to treat pemphigus vulgaris (PV). The mechanism by which it does so is not known. The following study was conducted to confirm the effectiveness of IVIg for the acute control of active PV and to elucidate the mechanism by which it does.

Twelve patients with active and severe PV unresponsive to conventional therapy with high doses of systemic steroids together with or without a cytotoxic drug were treated with a single dose of IVIg (400 mg/kg/day for 5 days). All patients were concurrently given cyclophosphamide or azathioprine of not already on one of these two drugs. The primary end-points were healing of skin lesions, changes in serum levels of intercelular (IC) autoantibodies and in steroid doses one to 3 weeks after initiation of IVIg.

Within 1 week of initiating IVIg the activity of PV was controlled in most cases. Within 3 weeks the average baseline dose of systemic steroid was reduced by 40%. Serum levels of IC antibodies rapidly declined by an average of 59% within 1 week of initiating IVIg and by 70% within 2 weeks. The decrease was selective, as the average serum levels of antibody to varicella-herpes zoster did not decrease in the 4 patients in whom they were measured. The decrease in IC antibodies was inversely related to serum levels of total inmmunoglobulin (IgG). The decrease in IC antibodies was not due to blocking factors in the IVIg preparation and was too rapid to be due to suppression of IgG synthesis, suggesting that it resulted from increased catabolism.

IVIg can rapidly control active PV unresponsive to conventional therapy by causing a selective and very rapid decline in the autoantibodies that mediate the disease. We believe it does so by increasing the catabolism of all serum IgG antibodies, and that this results in a selective decrease in only abnormal autoantibodies as catabolized normal anti bodies are replaced by those present in the IVIg preparation. IVIg is the first treatment that achieves the ideal therapeutic goal in auto-antibody diseases, the selective removal of the pathogenic antibodies without affecting the level of normal antibodies.