Immunological Identification of a Cryomacroglobulin in a Patient with Acquired Hæmolytic Anæmia associated with a Cold Antibody

Abstract

PATHOLOGICAL macroglobulins are reported to be antigenically related to normal 19S as well as normal 7S γ-globulins^1,2, although recent work would indicate that antigenic identity and cross-reactivity between normal 7S and 19Sγ-globulins might have arisen from their imperfect separation³. Ultracentrifugal studies indicate that the pathological macroglobulins^1,4 are composed of 19S and a smaller proportion of 26S γ-globulin, while the pathological cold agglutinins consist mainly of 19Scomponent and a much smaller amount of a faster sedimenting component⁵. The present work demonstrates evidence of cross-reactivity between a cryomacroglobulm with cold agglutinin activity and cold agglutinin macroglobulins, which were not cryoglobulins, in the sera of other patients suffering from acquired hæmolytic anæmia associated with cold antibody formation.