Cryoglobulinemia and Disease

Abstract

Serum globulins that precipitate on cooling and redissolve on warming may occur in a variety of clinically dissimilar disorders. In some cases their presence may be a manifestation of "immune-complex disease." A case of postperfusion syndrome apparently due to cytomegalovirus is presented; cryoglobulins and hemolytic anemia were present as part of the syndrome. This case focuses on the interrelationships of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) virus, autoimmunity, immune complexes, cryoglobulins, and glomerulonephritis. Studies of the composition of cryoglobulins from the serum of patients with essential cryoglobulinemia and from the synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, although providing no definitive answers, do relate DNA-like antigens and autoantibodies to cryoglobulins. The detection of cryoglobulins in the serum of patients with acute glomerulonephritis further supports the hypothesis that such proteins are the manifestation of immune-complex disease.