抄録
Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a subset of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) and patients with this disease are highly susceptible to infection. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy is considered beneficial for individuals with weak immune systems or for patients with other diseases who need to ward off infections. It has also demonstrated efficacy in suppressing disease activity in MPO-ANCA RPGN. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how IVIg therapy helps to alleviate MPO-ANCA RPGN by shedding light on the mechanism of the treatment.
Cytokines/chemokines have been implicated in the pathogenesis of MPO-ANCA RPGN, therefore we determined patients’ plasma cytokine/chemokine levels before and after IVIg therapy using 27 plex and 12 plex array to observe any important changes. Therapy was supplied in two dosages, full and mini dose. We observed that post-treatment levels of RANTES, IL-1α, IL-2Ra, L-3, IL-18, CTACK, HGF, M-CSF, MIG, SCF and TNF-β decreased from their pre-treatment levels in both full dose and mini dose patients. These results suggest that these cytokines and chemokine become highly activated and are closely connected to acute MPO-ANCA nephritis, and that the efficacy of IVIg therapy is due to a reduction in these highly activated cytokine/chemokines.
