Margarida Maia, PhD,  science writer—

A woman with cold agglutinin disease (CAD) developed a rare type of kidney damage caused by the accumulation of faulty antibodies inside small blood vessels, a case study shows. This accumulation is also known as intracapillary deposits of monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies. “To the best of our knowledge,…

A woman in Sri Lanka likely developed secondary cold agglutinin disease (CAD) that resulted from a rare type of “unusual and clinically aggressive” diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, a fast-growing blood cancer that formed in immune B-cells and involved the bone marrow, liver, and spleen. The case is the first…

An autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) to treat lymphoma, a blood cancer, was safely performed in a man with severe cold agglutinin disease (CAD) who was dependent on blood transfusions, researchers in Canada have reported. Several strategies for a successful transplant were used to avoid potential complications from…

Few cases of cold agglutinin disease (CAD) secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE, have been reported over the past seven decades, but all occurred in women, according to a study by two researchers in Colombia. In addition to describing two new cases of CAD secondary to SLE —…

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…

Warming and an extra dose of corticosteroid medication were part of multiple strategies doctors used to allow for a safe Cesarean section (c-section), without complications, in a pregnant woman with cold agglutinin disease (CAD), according to a case report. The woman was kept warm right during her hospital stay,…

Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) was the likely trigger of repeated mini-strokes in an 84-year-old woman with already compromised blood flow in the brain due to severe narrowing of a major artery that supplies blood to the brain, according to a case report from Portugal. The underlying mechanisms of red…

Treatment with rituximab — commonly used off-label for cold agglutinin disease (CAD) — was reported to successfully resolve a serious case of CAD secondary to an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and potential contraceptive pill toxicity in a young woman in Europe. The woman had developed severe jaundice and liver…

Zydus Lifesciences’ desidustat eases the anemia and red blood cell destruction that mark autoimmune hemolytic anemia, or AIHA, a group of autoimmune conditions that includes cold agglutinin disease (CAD), a study in a mouse model has found. The oral therapy was shown to stimulate red blood cell production…

Parsaclisib, an experimental oral therapy from Incyte, safely and effectively increased levels of hemoglobin in about half of people with cold agglutinin disease (CAD) in a small Phase 2 clinical trial, a study shows. Data from the study (NCT03538041), which included people with other forms of autoimmune…