Allergy Asthma Immunol Res.  2014 Jan;6(1):89-94. 10.4168/aair.2014.6.1.89.

Autologous Immunoglobulin Therapy in Patients With Severe Recalcitrant Atopic Dermatitis: A Preliminary Report

• Nahm DH
• Cho SM
• Kim ME
• Kim YJ
• Jeon SY

• KMID: 2166949
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aair.2014.6.1.89

Abstract

The management of severe recalcitrant atopic dermatitis (AD) is a challenging issue for clinicians and patients. We hypothesized that repeated intramuscular injections of autologous immunoglobulin (autologous immunoglobulin therapy: AIGT) might induce clinical improvements in patients with AD by stimulation of the active immune response to antigen-binding-site of pathogenic antibodies. We tried AIGT in 3 adult patients with severe recalcitrant AD whose clinical conditions could not be effectively controlled by medical treatments (including oral cyclosporine) for more than 2 years. Autologous immunoglobulin was purified from the autologous plasma by affinity chromatography using Protein A. The patients were treated by an intramuscular injection of 50 mg of autologous immunoglobulin twice a week for 4 weeks. A clinical severity score of AD (SCORAD value) showed a decrease greater than 30% at 8 weeks after the initiation of AIGT compared with the baseline before the initiation of AIGT in all 3 patients with severe recalcitrant AD. No significant side effects from treatment were observed. Further studies with larger numbers of patients are required to evaluate the clinical usefulness of AIGT for AD.

Keyword

Dermatitis; atopic; immunoglobulin; treatment

MeSH Terms

Adult
Antibodies
Chromatography, Affinity
Dermatitis
Dermatitis, Atopic*
Humans
Immunity, Active
Immunization, Passive*
Immunoglobulins*
Injections, Intramuscular
Plasma
Staphylococcal Protein A
Antibodies
Immunoglobulins
Staphylococcal Protein A

Figure

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  Figure Changes in the clinical severity score of atopic dermatitis (SCORAD value) in 3 patients with severe recalcitrant atopic dermatitis before and after autologous immunoglobulin therapy (AIGT) that consisted of intramuscular injections of 50 mg of autologous immunoglobulin twice a week for 4 weeks. The arrows indicate the timing of the injection of autologous immunoglobulin.

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