Activation of the classical pathway (CP) of complement is often associated with autoimmune disorders in which disease pathology is linked to the presence of an autoantibody. One such disorder is cold agglutinin disease (CAD), an autoimmune hemolytic anemia in which autoantibodies (cold agglutinins) bind to red blood cells (RBCs) at low temperatures. Anemia occurs as a result of autoantibody-med...

Immunologic studies performed in a case of autoimmune chronic hemolytic anemia with low titer cold agglutinins (1/16) demonstrated that the cold agglutinins corresponded to monoclonal IgG with anti-Pr specificity. This antibody had a large thermal amplitude, being active at 37 degrees C. These unusual characteristics may define a distinct subset of chronic cold agglutinin disease.

1. The metabolism of six purified and radioiodinated cold agglutinins has been studied in five patients with chronic cold haemagglutinin disease and in six normal controls. Two of the patients showed overt haemolysis at the time of this study and all had complement components adsorbed to the surface of their red cells. 2. The mean fractional catabolic rate (FCR) of the cold agglutinins, studied...

BACKGROUND Studies on the role of cold agglutinins in the pathogenesis of acute ischemic stroke are scarce. We present a case of an elderly man with acute cerebral infarction probably due to cold agglutinin disease. CASE PRESENTATION On a cold morning, a 71-year-old male of Han nationality with a complaint of sudden onset left-sided weakness and difficulty in speaking was brought to the emerg...

We report two cases of primary cold agglutinin disease (CAD) associated with megaloblastic anemia in Japanese elderly patients. Case 1 was a 67-year-old male and Case 2 was a 55-year-old male. Both patients were diagnosed with primary CAD, with continuously high cold agglutinin titers (1 : >8,192 and 1 : 16,834, resp.), monoclonal IgM-kappa light chains, and no underlying disease. In addition, ...