IgA deficiency

This is totally blowing my mind...

My brother has IgA deficiency, which makes him more prone to respiratory and GI infections, since he has reduced defenses in the mucosal surfaces... Anyway, he and I were recently joking about how he doesn't have enough immune system in his guts, and about how I apparently have too much, but the net effect is that we both have a lot of diarrhea...

Was doing some googling today, and found that there is an association between IgA deficiency and Crohn's!

I didn't see anything about associations with first-degree family members, but was curious as to whether any of you have a sibling or other relative with IgA or another primary immune deficiency?

hopefully drew will see this, i think hes done a lot of research on IgA deficiency vs Crohns

Haha .. yeah .. I am in the process of being tested for CVID/PID because they originally thought I had Crohns but then they were perplexed when the inflammation magically disappeared. To answer your question directly though, nope nobody in my family has anything wrong with them. I'm the black sheep medically as it were. Well nobody that we know of but depending on my test next week my parents and sister all might get tested. CVID/PID can cause all sorts of really bad stuff to happen.

As far as I can tell there isn't a direct link with PID/CVID directly but x-linkedgammaglobulima is genetic and the breakdown is mother carrier, son affected, father carrier, daughter affected. I haven't found any hard numbers on the probability of a carrier passing it on and having the affected person get bad enough to need replacement therapy though.

For what it's worth, my IgA levels are normal but on the low range and have actually dropped recently. I'm at 83 with the low end of normal being 70.

My IgG was 493 with 700 being baseline low and my IgM was < 10 with baseline low being 40.

A and G play a super huge part in protecting the mucousal areas of the body, eyes, ears, GI tract, sinuses and skin. I can't find as much info about M other than the fact that they can't replace it like they can with G and A.

If you have more questions I'd be happy to see if I can answer them for you.

I just noticed you're in the ATL .. yeah I had to spend 3 months in Lithia Springs .. and then most of this sickness crap started .. must be the south =p

Thanks, Drew!

Maybe there's something weird in the water here... I actually grew up in CA, though.

prettykitty said:

This is totally blowing my mind...

My brother has IgA deficiency, which makes him more prone to respiratory and GI infections, since he has reduced defenses in the mucosal surfaces... Anyway, he and I were recently joking about how he doesn't have enough immune system in his guts, and about how I apparently have too much, but the net effect is that we both have a lot of diarrhea...

Was doing some googling today, and found that there is an association between IgA deficiency and Crohn's!

I didn't see anything about associations with first-degree family members, but was curious as to whether any of you have a sibling or other relative with IgA or another primary immune deficiency?

Click to expand...

Well, as a matter of fact, I have a parent who had monoclonal gammopathy which was treated with IgA. After a few years of extremely expensive transfusions (only one company in the world made this stuff) he was "cured" by chemo. It's my understanding that there was something in his blood marrow that wasn't quite right. The list of monoclonal antibodies in wiki seems endless, so I don't know what his particualr problem was. However, Humira is a synthetic version of that, I think. I wish I knew more about how this all worked but I suspect I'd have to take a course in biochemistry. And I know I had (I requested this test) "serum protein electrophoresis" to test for a particular kind of protein but it came out negative.

At any rate, I'm paying close attention to the reports about the use of chemo/stem cell in Crohn's patients.

drew_wymore said:

I just noticed you're in the ATL .. yeah I had to spend 3 months in Lithia Springs .. and then most of this sickness crap started .. must be the south =p

Click to expand...

Nope, sorry. I lived in ATL for seven years, and all of my "sickness crap" started within a month after I moved away. Unless, my Crohn's was just homesick so it started acting up...

Shadycat said:

Nope, sorry. I lived in ATL for seven years, and all of my "sickness crap" started within a month after I moved away. Unless, my Crohn's was just homesick so it started acting up...

Click to expand...

I was just teasing of course. I thought ATL was very cool and had a really interesting vibe to it.

CD68 said:

Well, as a matter of fact, I have a parent who had monoclonal gammopathy which was treated with IgA. After a few years of extremely expensive transfusions (only one company in the world made this stuff) he was "cured" by chemo. It's my understanding that there was something in his blood marrow that wasn't quite right. The list of monoclonal antibodies in wiki seems endless, so I don't know what his particualr problem was. However, Humira is a synthetic version of that, I think. I wish I knew more about how this all worked but I suspect I'd have to take a course in biochemistry. And I know I had (I requested this test) "serum protein electrophoresis" to test for a particular kind of protein but it came out negative.

At any rate, I'm paying close attention to the reports about the use of chemo/stem cell in Crohn's patients.

Click to expand...

It would seem possible that Chemo could cure immunoglobulin problems or even stem cell transplants. I think with Crohns and Ig* issues .. there is something that is crossed up wrong somehow genetically. If you could safely survive chemo and create all new blood cells then perhaps the genetic defect wouldn't show up again.

I know you posted this a few years ago, but this thread came up in my Google searching for relations between igA and Crohn's. My two very young daughters have Crohn's, and now there is a chance that I do as well. I just found out that I am igA deficient, and I remember that when my youngest was being diagnosed her igA was low. The link here fascinates me, as does the chemo treatment. My girls tried several drugs before they were put on methotrexate (chemo), which has been the only thing that has put them in remission. Too many coincidences for my liking! Do any of the posters here know anything more about this since posting 3 years ago?

I would be very intrested to know too, as I am iga and igm deficient as well as suffering from crohn's .

I got on an IGA deficiency research kick awhile back and couldn't find any studies that correlate it with Crohn's Disease. I don't think that IGA deficiency causes Crohn's Disease but I would be very interested in studies that determine if there is increased risk for Crohn's Disease or if it increases the risk of serious complications such as fistulas and other extraintestinal manifestations (my GUESS is yes).

I just started a poll here. Let's see if we get many positives and if we do, we can do a survey from there.

I know these are old posts, but I'm new to the forum. I think that iga/igg deficiencies can definitely manifest as GI systems. My doctors want to see if increasing my IVIG dosage could improve/help manage my GI systems. Although I'm officially diagnosed with CVID and Crohns, I wonder if in the future people will be diagnosed with CVID with GI complications....

There does seem to be a small population of us dealing with both issues.

I know this is an old thread but been looking into this myself now.
Might apply more to Crohns,but have not done enough research yet to know.

Interesting theory/results.


Just suppose that in addition to gut leaks/mucus breaches we are low on igA,makes a lot of sense.

igA is attached to and sticks out of the mucus layer,what happens to the igA if the mucus is broken/washed away,

too thin,in UC the ulcers are denuded of mucus.

They make an important point on crohns,many people in the same family have a more leaky gut than

normal,but they all don't get crohns,but perhaps if the ones that do have a poor immune response,low on

igA. We have been asking this question to ourselves for a long time, many eat the same crappy diet,or take antibiotics or have stress,yet they don't get UC. What's different about us.

Might also explain why wild type mice recover from DSS,after a total disruption of mucus barrier.

The answer might be there is nothing wrong with their immune system!!!

This might really really tie things together somewhat.







Would be interesting to hear from people who have had IgA levels tested,and if they are low.

Old Mike

http://news.emory.edu/stories/2012/09/immune_system_compensates_for_leaky_gut/




complete paper have not read yet

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1074761312003809




s igA

http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/3/2/390

Sweden
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24584841

I have IGA and IGG deficiency ( also IGG subclass deficiencies ). The IGA fluctuates depending on when I'm tested , sometimes deficient sometimes just normal. I am always IGG deficient. Not technically diagnosed with CVID but may be heading that way. And is definitely a reason I have IBD symptoms. So I do think there is a link. However not much you can to to treat CVID other than infusions. Otherwise the tx is to treat the Crohns symptoms .