Systems biology and artificial intelligence analysis highlights the pleiotropic effect of IVIg therapy in autoimmune diseases with a predominant role on B cells and complement system

Abstract

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is used as treatment for several autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, but its specific mechanisms are not fully understood. Herein, we aimed to evaluate, using systems biology and artificial intelligence techniques, the differences in the pathophysiological pathways of autoimmune and inflammatory conditions that show diverse responses to IVIg treatment. We also intended to determine the targets of IVIg involved in the best treatment response of the evaluated diseases. Our selection and classification of diseases was based on a previously published systematic review, and we performed the disease characterization through manual curation of the literature. Furthermore, we undertook the mechanistic evaluation with artificial neural networks and pathway enrichment analyses. A set of 26 diseases was selected, classified, and compared. Our results indicated that diseases clearly benefiting from IVIg treatment were mainly characterized by deregulated processes in B cells and the complement system. Indeed, our results show that proteins related to B-cell and complement system pathways, which are targeted by IVIg, are involved in the clinical response. In addition, targets related to other immune processes may also play an important role in the IVIg response, supporting its wide range of actions through several mechanisms. Although B-cell responses and complement system have a key role in diseases benefiting from IVIg, protein targets involved in such processes are not necessarily the same in those diseases. Therefore, IVIg appeared to have a pleiotropic effect that may involve the collaborative participation of several proteins. This broad spectrum of targets and ‘non-specificity’ of IVIg could be key to its efficacy in very different diseases.