Immunoglobulins immunomodulation

A quite different approach to immunomodulation is the intravenous use of polyclonal human immunoglobulin. This immunoglobulin preparation (usually IgG) is prepared from pools of thousands of healthy donors, and no specific antigen is the target of the "therapeutic antibody." Rather, one expects that the pool of different antibodies will have a normalizing effect upon the patient s immune networks. 

Rhoades CJ, Williams MA, Kelsey SM, Newland AC. Monocyte-macrophage system and targets for immunomodulation by intravenous immunoglobulin. Blood Rev. 2000 14 14-30. 

Whereas idiopathic OM often resolves, spontaneously or after administration of intravenous immunoglobuline or corticosteroids [58], the outcome of paraneoplastic OM is more variable and depends on the tumor response to therapy. Children with paraneoplastic OM frequently respond to chemotherapy, adrenocorticotropic hormone, or immunomodulation [223], The response to immune therapy in adults with paraneoplastic OM is very modest, but prompt tumor therapy, immunomodulation, and depletion of IgG may be of some benefit [62, 224], Without antineoplastic therapy, the prognosis is usually poor, and symptoms often progress, ultimately causing death [62],... 

The effect of immunoglobulin therapy is either protection against microorganisms (antibody substitution, passive immunization), or immunomodulation, or both. The mechanism of the response in non-infectious diseases is... 

Van Aubel A, Hofbauer C, Elsasser U, Kammereit A, Riedl-Seifert RJ (1994) Immunoglobulins in serum and saliva of children with recurrent infections of the respiratory tract during treatment with an oral immunomodulator. In KN Masihi (ed) Immunotherapy of infections. Marcel Dekker, New York, 357-369... 

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