Vania Lin, MD, MPH, Robert Odrobina, MD, Maria A. Pletneva, MD, PhD, & Dorota Lebiedz-Odrobina, MD, RhMSUS | Issue: May 2021 |
Genetic insights into a complex and baffling disease
CHICAGO—Although rare, when a patient has both primary immune deficiency and autoimmune disease, the combination can lead to life-threatening complications requiring careful, long-term therapy. In When Immune Deficiency and Autoimmunity Coexist, a session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, M. Eric Gershwin, MD, the Jack and Donald Chia professor of Medicine and chief of Rheumatology,…
When a patient has both primary immune deficiency and autoimmune disease, the combination can lead to life-threatening complications. Here are some insights into the challenges of diagnosing and treating this rare subset of patients…
Although initially given as replacement therapy for patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiency states, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has proven to be effective in the treatment of various autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. This success has led to a dramatic increase in the use of IVIg, with its use as an antiinflammatory agent now vastly surpassing its use in the treatment of immunodeficiencies. Even so, the basis for the antiinflammatory activity of IVIg remains unclear.