Serum Factors of Acquired Hemolytic Anemia in Leukemia and Lymphoma.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the abnormal serum factors of acquired hemolytic anemia in patients with leukemia and lymphoma could be characterized as antibody by the immune adherence technique. The pathogenesis of this disorder has not been completely explained and it was felt that the study of specific immunologic reactions might help to determine whether these serum factors are erythrocyte antibody. The technique of immune adherence (1, 2) was used not only because its flexibility and sensitivity make it most suitable for the study of antigen-antibody reactions but particularly because, insofar as is at present known, immune adherence will not occur unless antigen and specific complement-fixing antibody are present. The basic premise of this reaction states that in the presence of antigen, specific antibody, complement, and indicator (either primate red cells or nonprimate platelets), the antigen will adhere to the indicator particles. Immune adherence may be determined either macroscopically by red cell floccule formation or microscopically by dark-field illumination.