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Loss of IgG antibodies

paolo

Senior Member
Messages
198
Location
Italy
Hi everyone,

I've lost the IgG of EBV, which infected me 12 years ago, starting my M.E. My immunologist said she have never seen a person who had lost IgG.

Have some of you lost IgG of EBV or of any other virus/bacteria?

I don't have IgG for any other virus/bacteria.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
I also have lost my igg antibodies to ebv. Apparently its quite common amongst cfs/me and i first read about it in oslers web when cheney and peterson had patients who stopped producing igg antibodies. So much for igg be antibodies forever??

Im unsure what it means, its possible that these dam viruses are running around doing what they like and the immune system is allowing it??

cheers!!
 
Messages
15,786
I got tested for Herpes Simplex 1/2 and was negative for IgG, even though I'm pretty sure I had it when I was 6 or so. Myself and everyone else at daycare came down with "cold sores" for a while. I also tested negative for EBV, even though almost everyone has that one.

The lab initially reported that I tested positive to toxoplasmosis IgM, but negative to IgG. They later changed that to say that both were negative, so who knows.
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
I
The lab initially reported that I tested positive to toxoplasmosis IgM, but negative to IgG. They later changed that to say that both were negative, so who knows.

Makes ya wonder, doesn't it? Sounds like some dry-labbing to me -- "Oh, she can't have IgM, but no IgG so the data must be wrong. I'll just change it so it looks right...." :rolleyes:
 

SOC

Senior Member
Messages
7,849
@paolo
@heapsreal

Have you guys ever had your immunoglobulins tested to see if you have hypogammaglobulinemia? Might that explain disappearing EBV IgG antibodies?
 

Rlman

Senior Member
Messages
389
Location
Toronto, Canada
Hi everyone,

I've lost the IgG of EBV, which infected me 12 years ago, starting my M.E. My immunologist said she have never seen a person who had lost IgG.

Have some of you lost IgG of EBV or of any other virus/bacteria?

I don't have IgG for any other virus/bacteria.

My EBV and CMV are negative for IGG/IGM as well but I am positive IGG for toxoplasmosis. Rubella antibodies also detected.
 

Rlman

Senior Member
Messages
389
Location
Toronto, Canada
I also have lost my igg antibodies to ebv. Apparently its quite common amongst cfs/me and i first read about it in oslers web when cheney and peterson had patients who stopped producing igg antibodies. So much for igg be antibodies forever??

Im unsure what it means, its possible that these dam viruses are running around doing what they like and the immune system is allowing it??

cheers!!

@heapsreal, are you positive IGG for other infections or IGG negative for everything like paolo?
 

halcyon

Senior Member
Messages
2,482
I got tested for Herpes Simplex 1/2 and was negative for IgG, even though I'm pretty sure I had it when I was 6 or so. Myself and everyone else at daycare came down with "cold sores" for a while. I also tested negative for EBV, even though almost everyone has that one.
Could it have been herpangina?
 

JalapenoLuv

Senior Member
Messages
299
Location
unknown
Hi everyone,

I've lost the IgG of EBV, which infected me 12 years ago, starting my M.E. My immunologist said she have never seen a person who had lost IgG.

Have some of you lost IgG of EBV or of any other virus/bacteria?

I don't have IgG for any other virus/bacteria.

Yes this happened to me as well. When I was initially infected with EBV in 2008 I was positive for IgG initially but all subsequent testing was negative. I think it is because the infection blocks antibody formation by disabling macrophages so the IgG stops being produced.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
There is an interesting article about the disappearance of EBV IgG antibodies here. The article says that:
Evidence of a impaired B-cell response to EBV first came in the form of missing IgG antibodies to VCA and EBNA in 13% of ME/CFS patients compared to 4% of controls. This indicated that 13% of their ME/CFS study population did not have some of the memory B-cells needed to detect an EBV infection.

a much larger study that found no IgG response to a protein expressed during latency by EBV (called EBNA-1 protein) in 10% of IgG positive ME/CS patients. This indicated that the immune systems of approximately 10% of the ME/CFS group were unable to detect a very early stage of EBV latency.
 

Pyrrhus

Senior Member
Messages
4,172
Location
U.S., Earth
When I was a child, I used to have cold sores all the time, which are caused by Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV1). It is generally thought that once you get infected with HSV1, you are infected for life.

So I was somewhat surprised last year when I learned that I have no antibodies to HSV1.

Maybe I don't have antibodies because I was infected before 6 months of age, before the immune system has developed enough to be able to distinguish between "self" and "foreign" molecules. My mother apparently had a bad attack of cold sores while she was pregnant with me, so I might have been infected in utero.

Or there could be another perfectly good explanation...
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
I did not have EBV EBNA or EA IgG even though it was PCR positive and a reactivation.

Do you still show a pcr positive to ebv now?

I often wonder that those of us who have lost our igg antibodies to ebv that this means potentially we still have the infection going on as we dont have protective antibodies but also low nk function. Could the low nk function be a type of immune exhaustion from continually fighting ebv without the help of antibodies🤔 . I think my chronic neutropenia is possibly also due to immune exhaustion.
 

Pyrrhus

Senior Member
Messages
4,172
Location
U.S., Earth
Could the low nk function be a type of immune exhaustion from continually fighting ebv without the help of antibodies🤔

Possibly, or it could be dysautonomia, as the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system activates NK cells and the sympathetic branch deactivates NK cells.

I think my chronic neutropenia is possibly also due to immune exhaustion.

Related discussion:

Declining neutrophils
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/declining-neutrophils.75238/