Abstract
ANTI-I was the name given by Wiener et al. 1 in 1956 to a cold antibody found in the serum of a patient suffering from cold antibody hæmolytic anaemia. Further investigations into the I group system were made by Jenkins et al. 2, Tippett et al. 3, Weiner et al. 4 and Marsh5. These workers showed that cold auto-antibodies (previously called nonspecific cold agglutinins) had I specificity and that occasional powerful examples of these antibodies may be found as auto-agglutinins in cases of cold antibody hæmolytic anaemia. The I antigen has an almost universal distribution, Wiener et al. finding only five i people from 22,000 blood donors, while Jenkins et al. failed to find an example of the i phenotype after testing 17,000 donors. Marsh afterwards described examples of cold auto-antibodies having i specificity and showed that normal infants at birth possessed the i phenotype, which changed within 18 months of birth to I. He concluded that the rare i phenotype in adults arose from the absence of a genetically determined factor essential for the proper development of I. The majority of cold auto-antibodies therefore appear to have I specificity, a minority may be anti-i.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Wiener, A. S., Unger, L. J., Cohen, L., and Feldman, J., Ann. Intern. Med., 44, 221 (1956).
Jenkins, W. J., Marsh, W. L., Noades, J., Tippett, P., Sanger, R., and Race, R. R., Vox Sang., 5, 97 (1960).
Tippett, P., Noades, J., Sanger, R., Race, R. R., Sausais, L., Holman, C. A., and Buttimer, J., Vox Sang., 5, 107 (1960).
Weiner, W., Shinton, N. K., and Gray, I. R., J. Clin. Path., 13, 232 (1960).
Marsh, W. L. (submitted to Brit. J. Haemat..)
Weiner, W., Tovey, G. H., Gillespie, E. M., Lewis, H. B. M., and Holliday, T. B. S., Vox Sang., 1, 297 (1956).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MARSH, W., JENKINS, W. A Possible Specificity of Albumin Auto-antibodies. Nature 190, 180 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1038/190180a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/190180a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.