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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jun 18, 2015; 7(11): 1494-1508
Published online Jun 18, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i11.1494
Published online Jun 18, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i11.1494
Intravenous immunoglobulins in liver transplant patients: Perspectives of clinical immune modulation
Arno Kornberg, Department of Surgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University, D-81675 Munich, Germany
Author contributions: Kornberg A analyzed data, designed and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest with the study.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Arno Kornberg, MD, PhD, Department of Surgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University, Ismaningerstr. 22, D-81675 Munich, Germany. arnokornberg@aol.com
Telephone: +49-089-41405087 Fax: +49-089-41404884
Received: February 28, 2015
Peer-review started: March 2, 2015
First decision: April 10, 2015
Revised: April 19, 2015
Accepted: May 7, 2015
Article in press: May 8, 2015
Published online: June 18, 2015
Peer-review started: March 2, 2015
First decision: April 10, 2015
Revised: April 19, 2015
Accepted: May 7, 2015
Article in press: May 8, 2015
Published online: June 18, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: In times of an escalating organ scarcity, decreasing posttransplant survival rates following liver transplantation have been reported. Predominantly infectious and immunologic complications were identified to account for this recent outcome deterioration. Therefore, balancing the recipients’ immune system is currently discussed as useful approach to improve prognosis. Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) are thought to provide favorable immuno-regulatory capabilities. This paper summarizes the current available clinical data that indicate beneficial immuno-modulatory properties of IVIg in liver transplant patients.