Auto-antibodies in Acquired Haemolytic Anaemia

Abstract

It is now widely recognized that cases of haemolytic anaemia of spontaneous or endogenous origin may be divided into two broad groups: those determined by a genetical cause resulting in the production of defective red cells, and those not so determined. Among the latter group of acquired haemolytic anaemias are cases in which there is evidence for the presence of antibodies active against the patient's own red cells. That abnormal auto-antibodies might be formed in some cases was suggested by the reports of French authors in the early years of this century. Widal, Abrami, and Brule (1908a and b; 1909) drew attention to the frequency of autokiaemagglutination in cases of l'ictere hemolytique acquis, and stressed that this was a distinguishing and characteristic finding. At about the same time Chauffard and Troisier (1908) and Chauffard and Vincent (1909) described as suffer- ing from ictere hemolysinique and hemoglobinurie hemolysinique patients whose sera were found to contain haemolysins. Although it is true that their reports are somewhat marred by the fact that no account was taken of the existence of the normal isohaemolysins, it seems very probable that the patients' sera did in fact contain abnormal iso-antibodies.