Cryoglobulinemia
Cryoglobulinemia is the presence of abnormal proteins that are occasionally found in the blood of people with some forms of autoimmune diseases, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and certain forms of pneumonia. The proteins cause the blood to gel at low temperatures causing tissue necrosis.
Causes: Type 1 cryoglobulinemia is often associated with lymphoma. Type 2 cryoglobulinemia is often associated with hepatitis C infection. Drug usage is a prime risk factor for patients with cryoglobulinemia. Hepatitis C is acquired by injection drug use (needle–sharing), tainted blood products, and (probably rarely), sexual transmission.
Symptoms may include a rash on the lower limbs, arthritis, nerve damage and tissue necrosis of affected areas.
Treating the hepatitis may be an effective therapy for this type of vasculitis.
Cryoglobulinemia Disease Research
ClinicalTrials.com provides regularly updated information about federally and privately supported clinical research.
Open studies for Cryoglobulinemia Disease:
Rituximab to Treat Hepatitis C-Associated Cryoglobulinemic Vasculitis
Characterization of Clonal B Cell Populations in HCV Infection Edgar Charles, MD, Principal Investigator Rockefeller University Research on Cryoglobulinemia from Entrez Pubmed: The US National Library of Medicine has a search service that allows anyone with internet access to look for medical articles free of charge. PubMed makes it easy to look up diseases, medicines, research authors or any combination of the above. Here is a partial listing of some of the research. It is important to note that much research results in preliminary findings that should not be confused with established fact. These links are from Entrez PubMed: 1) Cryoglobulinemia-Related Vasculitis During Effective Anti-HCV Treatment with De Blasi T, Aguilar Marucco D, Cariti G, Maiello A, De Rosa FG, Di Perri G Dept. of Infectious Diseases, University of Turin, Amedeo di Savoia Hospital, Corso Svizzera 164, 10149, Turin, Italy
2) HCV-Related Immunocytoma and Type II Mixed Cryoglobulinemia-Associated Autoantigens
Simula MP, Caggiari L, Gloghini A, DE Re V.
Farmacologia Sperimentale e Clinica
DOMERT, Dipartimento di Oncologia
Molecolare e Ricerca Traslazionale, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, IRCCS. V.F. Gallini
2 33081 Aviano, Pordenone, Italy
Alpa M, Ferrero B, Cavallo R, Perna A, Naretto C, Gennaro M, Di Simone D, Bellizia L, Mansouri M, Rossi D, Modena V, Giachino O, Sena LM, Roccatello D Centro Multidisciplinare di Ricerche di Immunopatologia e Documentazione su Malattie Rare, Struttura Complessa Direzione Universitaria di Immunologia Clinica, Università di Torino, Torino, Italy Ramos-Casals M, Forns X, Brito-Zerón P, Vargas A, Ruiz M, Laguno M, Yagüe J, Sánchez-Tapias JM, Gatell JM, Font J Department of Autoimmune Diseases, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain 5) Type II cryoglobulinemia is not associated with hepatitis C infection: the Dutch experience Cohen Tervaert JW, Van Paassen P, Damoiseaux J Department of Clinical and Experimental Immunology, University Hospital Maastricht, P. Debyelaan 25, 6229 HX Maastricht, the Netherlands 6) Efficacy of low-dose rituximab for mixed cryoglobulinemia Visentini M, Granata M, Veneziano ML, Borghese F, Carlesimo M, Pimpinelli F, Fiorilli M, Casato M Department of Clinical Immunology, University of Rome La Sapienza, Viale dell'Università 37, 00185, Rome, Italy Saadoun D, Landau DA, Calabrese LH, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, CNRS, UMR 7087, Paris, France 8) Indication for plasma exchange for systemic necrotizing vasculidities 9) Cryoglobulinemia related to hepatitis C virus infection Dore MP, Fattovich G, Sepulveda AR, Realdi G Istituto di Clinica Medica, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy