Margarida Maia, PhD,  science writer—

A young boy in Portugal developed cold agglutinin disease (CAD) and an inflammatory condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) secondary to an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, which can cause infectious mononucleosis, or mono. The boy recovered fully after being treated with corticosteroids, a type of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive medication,…

While cold agglutinin disease (CAD) may vary widely in severity and course, more than half of patients experience symptoms of anemia (too few red blood cells) and have slower blood clotting that may lead to excessive bleeding. That’s according to a study in the U.S. that also found more…

Low levels of a protein that helps to regulate B-cell activity may explain why these immune cells turn highly active, overproducing so many of the self-reactive antibodies that cause cold agglutinin disease (CAD), a study suggests. This protein, called complement receptor 1 (CR1), acts as a control on B-cells,…

The use of Enjaymo (sutimlimab) was seen to prevent symptoms of cold agglutinin disease (CAD) from worsening in an elderly man in Japan following repeated vaccination against COVID-19, according to a case report. The patient had experienced CAD-related crises after receiving a third and fourth dose of the…

Twice-daily dosing of ANX1502, Annexon Biosciences’ experimental oral therapy for autoimmune conditions such as cold agglutinin disease (CAD), reached the desired levels in the blood of healthy volunteers who took part in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Taken by mouth as a liquid suspension, ANX1502 was well tolerated,…

For a man in Japan, cold agglutinin disease (CAD) was complicated by pulmonary thrombosis, which occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in the lungs, and organizing pneumonia, a rare type of inflammation in the air sacs of the lungs. The man responded well to treatment with…

About one in five people infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 test positive on a direct Coombs test, which indicates their red blood cells may be covered with antibodies like those that cause cold agglutinin disease (CAD),  a small study reports. Those antibodies, called cold agglutinins, weren’t…

A young woman in Colombia developed cold agglutinin disease (CAD) secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease often called lupus, a study reports. While other types of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) — rare autoimmune diseases marked by self-reactive antibodies attacking and destroying red blood cells —…

A man with cold agglutinin disease (CAD) had significant red blood cell clumping in his coronary arteries during a procedure to correct an abnormal heart rhythm, blocking blood supply to the heart, according to a recent case report. Researchers called this “a novel and unusual manifestation” of CAD that…

For a toddler in Brazil, cold agglutinin disease (CAD) occurred secondary to an infection with an adenovirus, a common virus that can cause symptoms similar to a cold or the flu, a case study reports. According to the researchers, this represents “the first pediatric case of cold agglutinin syndrome…