A man with rheumatoid arthritis and cold agglutinin disease (CAD) achieved complete remission following treatment with rituximab, an antibody-based therapy commonly used off-label for CAD, a recent case study indicates. Rituximab therapy also treated the man’s cooccurring immune thrombocytopenia, an autoimmune disorder marked by the destruction of platelets, which…
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Standing at the bathroom mirror, I peer this way and that. Has that scab become smaller? Is there any redness or pain? Any swelling, especially around the edges of my skin graft? Everything seems to be going smoothly. I’m pleasantly surprised. I had my Mohs surgery (for skin cancer…
A Japanese man with severe anemia — a condition marked by too few red blood cells in the body — following a case of COVID-19 tested positive for cold agglutinins and cryoglobulins, two types of antibodies that become reactive in the cold, according to a new report. Cold agglutinins are…
I was enveloped in a deliciously warm environment, floating as if on a cloud, bathed in warm sunshine. I stretched out my arm, which immediately whapped against the bedroom wall. My luxurious sleep had ended. I reached down and lifted up my laptop from the bottom shelf of my bedside…
Very low doses of rituximab rapidly reduced blood levels of disease-driving B-cells in people with cold agglutinin disease (CAD) and other forms of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), but this suppression was not consistently sustained over time. Those are the findings of a small pilot Phase 2 clinical…
Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is a rare disorder in which the immune system mistakenly attacks red blood cells, resulting in anemia.
CAD is characterized by autoantibodies, called cold agglutinins, binding to and activating the destruction of red blood cells when exposed to cold temperatures.
Symptoms of CAD include fatigue, Raynaud’s syndrome, joint pain, jaundice or skin discoloration, and heart problems. These symptoms can worsen with more cold exposure.
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