Immunoglobulin is a protein in human plasma. It is found in all of us except few who are immunodeficient. Those patients who don’t have enough of immunoglobulin (hypogammaglobulinemia) or where it doesn’t work well (functional antibody deficiency); replacing it in adequate amounts help fight variety of infections.
Patients who have inflammation in body also benefit from immunoglobulin use in selected diseases.
It is made from pooled human plasma and was first available during World War II. Currently, plasma from thousands of screened donors is pooled and subjected to various processes to make it safe from transmitting virus, bacteria and to decrease any side effects.
More than 95% of final preparation is immunoglobulin IgG. It doesn’t contain much IgA or IgM immunoglobulin.
FDA has approved use of immunoglobulin for the following conditions:
Immunoglobulin treatment is used in many primary immune deficiency states