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Intravenous immunoglobulin increases survival time in the acute phase of experimental Chagas disease
Author(s) -
OLIVIERI B. P.,
VASCONCELLOS R.,
NÓBREGA A.,
MINOPRIO P.,
KAVERI S. V.,
ARAÚJOJORGE T. C.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
parasite immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1365-3024
pISSN - 0141-9838
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3024.2010.01212.x
Subject(s) - antibody , immunology , chagas disease , trypanosoma cruzi , medicine , disease , immunoglobulin g , bradycardia , biology , heart rate , parasite hosting , world wide web , computer science , blood pressure
Summary Chagas disease induced by Trypanosoma cruzi (Tc) infection is an important cause of mortality and morbidity affecting the cardiovascular system for which presently available therapies are insufficient and largely inadequate. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is a therapeutic preparation containing normal polyspecific IgG obtained from plasma pools of several thousand healthy donors and is used in several autoimmune, inflammatory and infectious diseases. In the study of heart from mice chronically infected with Tc, we observed that IVIg restores type 1 atrioventricular block or bradycardia. In the present study, we investigated the effects of IVIg in acute Tc infection. Intravenous immunoglobulin administration after the first week of infection was associated with an increase in survival time. Taken together, results observed in the chronic and in the acute phase associate IVIg treatment with a favourable outcome in T. cruzi infection.