EFFECTS OF HIGH-DOSE INTRAVENOUS IMMUNOGLOBULIN IN 2 SEVERE CORTICOSTEROID INSENSITIVE ASTHMATIC-PATIENTS

Preliminary observations of the clinical efficacy of intravenous immun oglobulin in two patients with severe corticosteroid insensitive asthm a are reported. In both patients treatment with intravenous immunoglob ulin resulted in clinical improvement and enabled a significant reduct ion in the dose of prednisolone. In one of the patients fibreoptic bro nchoscopy with endobronchial biopsies was performed and peripheral blo od was analysed by flow cytometry before and after treatment. Immunohi stological analysis of the biopsy samples after treatment showed a dec rease in the number of all cell types, especially CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, and activated CD25+ T lymphocytes, which was associated with a reduction in peripheral blood T cell activation. Intravenous immunogl obulin may be a valid option for the treatment of corticosteroid insen sitive asthma. To elucidate the role and mode of action of intravenous immunoglobulin further studies in larger groups of patients are neede d.