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A Protein Microarray Assay for Serological Determination of Antigen-specific Antibody Responses Following Clostridium difficile Infection
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Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) for refractory and difficult-to-treat infections

Giovanni Ferrara1, Alimuddin Zumla, Markus Maeurer

  • 1Center for Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation (CAST), Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

The American Journal of Medicine
|May 22, 2012
PubMed

Traditionally, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has been used as replacement therapy for patients with primary or secondary immunoglobulin deficiencies. Increasingly, IVIg is being used (in doses higher than for replacement therapy) in certain bacterial or viral infectious diseases. A variety of modes of action have been attributed to the beneficial effects of IVIg, including its interaction with T-cell function, antigen-presenting cell maturation/presentation, combined with a general "tune down" effect on inflammatory reactions. More often, IVIg is being evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of refractory and difficult-to-treat chronic infections. The evidence, molecular mechanisms, and rationale for the use of adjunct IVIg therapy in infectious diseases are reviewed, and its potential use in the adjunct treatment of difficult-to-treat drug-resistant tuberculosis discussed.

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