High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin does not reduce the numbers of circulating CD14+CD16++ monocytes in patients with inflammatory disorders

Intravenous Immunoglobulins Promote an Expansion of Monocytic Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSC) in CVID Patients

Common variable immunodeficiency disorders (CVID), the most common primary immune deficiency, includes heterogeneous syndromes characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia and impaired antibody responses. CVID patients frequently suffer from recurrent infections and inflammatory conditions. Currently, immunoglobulin replacement therapy (IgRT) is the first-line treatment to prevent infections and aminorate immune alterations in CVID patients. Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIg), a preparation of highly purified poly-specific IgG, is used for treatment of immunodeficiencies as well as for autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, as IVIg exerts immunoregulatory and anti-inflammatory actions on innate and adaptive immune cells. To determine the mechanism of action of IVIg in CVID in vivo, we determined the effect of IVIg infusion on the transcriptome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from CVID patients, and found that peripheral blood monocytes are primary targets of IVIg in vivo, and that IVIg triggers the acquisition of an anti-inflammatory gene profile in human monocytes. Moreover, IVIg altered the relative proportions of peripheral blood monocyte subsets and enhanced the proportion of CD14⁺ cells with a transcriptional, phenotypic, and functional profile that resembles that of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC). Therefore, our results indicate that CD14 + MDSC-like cells might contribute to the immunoregulatory effects of IVIg in CVID and other inflammatory disorders.

Intravenous immunoglobulin replacement therapy in common variable immunodeficiency induces B cell depletion through differentiation into apoptosis-prone CD21(low) B cells

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), besides its use as replacement therapy in patients with antibody deficiencies, is broadly used as an immunomodulatory agent for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. The mechanisms of action of IVIG include Fc receptor blockade, inhibition of cytokines and growth factors, modulation of macrophages and dendritic cells, enhancement of regulatory T cells, and modulation of B cells through the FcγRIIB receptor and CD22. Recent studies suggest that in vitro exposure of human B cells to IVIG determines functional changes reminiscent of anergy and that IVIG treatment of patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) induces in B cells ERK activation, a feature of anergy. Here, we show that IVIG therapy drives the B cells of patients with CVID to down-regulate CD21 expression and to assume the peculiar phenotype of the anergic-like, apoptosis-prone CD21(low) B cells that are spontaneously expanded in a subset of CVID and in some other immunological disorders. The CD21(low) B cells newly generated after IVIG infusion undergo spontaneous apoptosis upon in vitro culture. Furthermore, IVIG infusion is rapidly followed by a significant, although discrete, decrease in the number of circulating B cells, but not of T cells or of natural killer cells. These findings suggest that IVIG therapy may constrain antibody responses by inducing B cell depletion through differentiation into CD21(low) B cells that undergo accelerated apoptosis.