Immunosorba & Globaffin
Immunoadsorption with Immunosorba
Highly efficient removal of antibodies in diseases with impaired immune response
Antibodies are proteins, so-called immunoglobulins, which the immune system produces normally as defence reaction upon infections or foreign substances. Sometimes, however, the immune response itself becomes a problem: For example in autoimmune diseases which are usually caused by an excessive reaction of the immune system against body-own tissue. Here so-called auto-antibodies appear often which, depending on the disease, can be directed against different body-own tissues. The therapy with Immunosorba is a treatment alternative/ or supplement for conventional therapy of certain auto-immuno diseases. It is targeted at a rapid and efficient removal of the involved antibodies.
The principle of Immunosorba therapy
For removal of the antibodies involved in the course of the disease, the blood of the patient is first separated into blood cells and blood plasma using a machine. In a further step the plasma containing the antibodies is alternatingly passed through one of two Immunosorba columns. The columns contain a special protein (protein A), which is binding antibodies. Whilst the first column is loaded with antibodies the second is rinsed (regenerated), to become available again for a further loading cycle. After removal of the antibodies the Plasma is mixed again with the blood cells and returned to the patient.
The treatment usually takes between three and five hours. The treatment frequency depends on the disease concerned and its degree of severity , respectively.
Diseases currently treated with Immunosorba therapy :
- Systemic Lupus erythematodes (SLE), a chronic-inflammatory auto-immune disease involving the entire organism, frequently affecting joints, skin, kidneys, the nervous system as well as other organs of the human body,
- Forms of dilatative cardiomyopathy (DCM), a pathogenic enlargement primarily of the left ventricle, where an impaired immune response takes a role en
- Pemphigus vulgaris, a very severe autoimmune disease of skin and mucous membranes leading to blistering
- As well as a number of other diseases in which antibodies take a role
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