A Ge‐like autoantibody in the serum of a patient receiving gold therapy for rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

A 61-year-old nulliparous woman who had never been transfused was admitted to the hospital because of severe anemia. She had been treated with gold salts for 4.5 years for rheumatoid arthritis. Because she had a negative direct antiglobulin test, an anti-Ge found in her serum was believed to be an alloantibody. Subsequent testing of her initial serum sample with autologous red cells drawn 12 months later showed them to be strongly agglutinated, indicating that she had had a transient depression of her Ge antigen and that the anti-Ge was an autoantibody. It was postulated that these transient effects may have been related to the gold therapy.