New studies point to efficacy of IVIG in long COVID therapies.

If you’ve been following along with our regularly updated long COVID series, we’ve discussed in detail the role of immune dysregulation and molecular mimicry as just two of the diverse mechanisms involved in spike-induced disease. These processes have been identified in ongoing research as significant contributors to this novel disorder and why finding the best treatments for each patient can be very elusive.    

But previous investigations have pointed to the potential value of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy as part of a multifaceted approach. And two recent articles seem to further support the benefit for some long COVID sufferers. 
 
“Long-term high-dose immunoglobulin successfully treats long COVID patients with pulmonary, neurologic, and cardiologic symptoms,” published just this month, employed a very small sample but found that all subjects “had a significant to remarkable clinical benefit” at a dose of .5 gram/kg administered every other week.
  
Findings in “Intravenous immunoglobulins in the treatment of post-COVID: A case–control study,” published in late 2022, suggest that IVIG was a viable candidate approach for post-COVID issues. While also a relatively small-sized study, the research does point to further evaluating the efficacy of IVIG in future randomized controlled trials.
 
IVIG contains a broad spectrum of anti-idiotypic antibodies, which neutralize the deleterious autoimmune antibodies. Molecular mimicry of spike to the body and brain drives high levels of a broad array of autoantibodies. Long COVID/spikopathy can drive long-standing immune dysfunction, which it is posited that IVIG subsequently can help.
 
I now have three cases in treatment with vaccine-acquired immune deficiency syndrome (VAIDS) or severe immune dysfunction, post vaccine. In these patients, IVIG can upregulate autophagy, reduce the inflammasome driving microglial cell activation,  
and so much more. 
 
I review the benefits of IVIG in this recent blog that also examines another recent IVIG study in an animal model:  https://www.suzannegazdamd.com/blog---long-covid/the-downfall-of-the-brain-in-long-covid-and-what-we-can-do-to-help
 
The treatment of long COVID and spike-induced disease post vaccine is very complicated; it is not a “one solution” regimen, but I do believe that IVIG can be helpful to some patients and should be considered in a comprehensive protocol.
 
In hope and healing,
Dr. Suzanne Gazda
 
References:
 
Thompson JS, Thornton AC, Ainger T and Garvy BA (2023) Long-term high-dose immunoglobulin successfully treats Long COVID patients with pulmonary, neurologic, and cardiologic symptoms. Front. Immunol. 13:1033651. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1033651
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1033651/full
 
Hogeweg, M, Doevelaar, A, Rieckmann, S, Seibert, F, Scholten, D, Segelmacher, M, et al. Intravenous immunoglobulins in the treatment of post-COVID: A case–control study. J Intern Med. 2022; 00: 00– 00.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joim.13592