Deciphering the biology of IgG4-related disease: specific antigens and disease?

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is the name applied to a corticosteroid and/or B-cell depletion responsive illness, in which patients present with the consequences of usually multiorgan, relapsing and remitting, fibroinflammation.1 The disease is histologically characterised by obliterative phlebitis, storiform fibrosis and a dense lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate.2 IgG4-RD is not a new disease, but is benefiting from the application of new technologies in the pursuit of better biological understanding. The histologic enrichment of IgG4-expressing plasma cells is a diagnostic hallmark of disease that additionally serves as a biological phenomenon driving scientific evaluation.3 Key disease themes have evolved to include a large clonal expansion of activated plasmablasts and CD4+ cytotoxic, inflammatory and profibrotic lymphocytes. Therapeutically, a reduced frequency of CD4+ cytotoxic lymphocytes are seen after B-cell depletion; such therapy may consequently impact on antigen presentation.4–6 To date, the activity of IgG4-RD is not readily tracked by...

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