**Acknowledgement**

We warmly thank the staffs in stem cell laboratory (Radium-Oslo-Norway) for the preparation of frozen CD34+ progenitor cells.

#### **5. References**


<sup>\*</sup> Corresponding Author

[10] Ferlazzo G., A. Wesa, Wie. Wie, and A. Galy. 1999. Dendritic Cells generated either from D34+ progenitor cells or from monocytes differ in their ability to activate antigenspecific CD8+ T cells *J. Immunology, 163:3597-3604*

**Chapter 4** 

© 2012 Camcıoğlu, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

**Immunoglobulin Treatment** 

**of Immunodeficient Patients** 

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

There is a large number of immunodeficient patients requiring lifelong IgG replacement. This review is focused on currently available Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) preparations, manufacturing procedures, dose arrangements, mechanisms of actions, benefits of antibody replacement treatment and careful administration of IVIG considering, numerous side effects. Subcutaneous IgG (SCIG) treatment has gained ground in recent years as an alternative to IVIG. Data show that the efficacy of SCIG in preventing infections

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is mainly indicated as replacement therapy for patients with primary and selected secondary immunodeficiency diseases characterized by absent or deficient antibody production. Antibody deficiencies are a heterogeneous group of diseases mainly consisting of primary immunodeficiency diseases (PID) [1-4]. Primary antibody deficiencies (PAD) can be divided into four main subgroups: X-linked agammaglobulinaemia, class-switch recombination defects (hyper-IgM syndromes (HIGM), hypogammaglobulinaemia (particularly common variable immunodeficiency (CIVD) and selective immunoglobulin deficiencies (selective IgA deficiency). Over the past 20 years, 18 genetic defects have been defined as leading causes of PAD, but no gene defects were identified in patients with hypogammaglobulinaemia and selective immunoglobulin deficiencies, because of the variability of the affected stages of B cell differentiation and maturation, and the onset time of clinical symptoms like childhood or adulthood with

Substitution of immunoglobulin G (IgG) is the efficient and standard treatment for many years [7-11]. Immunoglobulins pooled from thousands of healthy donors contain a wide range of antibody specificities. These immunoglobulin preparations also have antiinflammatory and immunomodulatory effects in addition to their use as replacement

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

is proportional to the steady-state levels achieved and similar to that of IVIG.

increased susceptibility to mainly bacterial infections [5,6].

Yıldız Camcıoğlu

**1. Introduction** 

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51660


**Chapter 4** 
