title: An infant girl with severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia: apparent anti-Vel specificity.
abstract: Autoantibodies directed against the common red-cell antigen Vel are unusual, with only 2 previous cases reported. This report describes an infant girl with steroid-resistant autoimmune hemolytic anemia whose serum contained an antibody with apparent specificity for Vel antigen. Transfusion with Vel-positive cells resulted in a massive hemolytic transfusion reaction. Survival of labelled Vel-negative cells was normal up to 8 h following transfusion, and no transfusion reaction followed subsequent use of Vel-negative cells. There was no evidence of a collagen vascular disease, an immunodeficiency syndrome, or a malignancy. Although rare, anti-Vel should be considered in unexplained autoimmune hemolytic anemia.
mesh_terms: D000744:Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune / Q000097:blood*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001789:Blood Group Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006461:Hemolysis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant
chemical_list: D001789:Blood Group Antigens