A New Murine Model of Primary Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia (AIHA). 2021

Flavia Dei Zotti, and Annie Qiu, and Francesca La Carpia, and Chiara Moriconi, and Krystalyn E Hudson
Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, New York, NY, United States.

Loss of humoral tolerance to red blood cells (RBCs) can lead to autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), a severe, and sometimes fatal disease. Patients with AIHA present with pallor, fatigue, decreased hematocrit, and splenomegaly. While secondary AIHA is associated with lymphoproliferative disorders, infections, and more recently, as an adverse event secondary to cancer immunotherapy, the etiology of primary AIHA is unknown. Several therapeutic strategies are available; however, there are currently no licensed treatments for AIHA and few therapeutics offer treatment-free durable remission. Moreover, supportive care with RBC transfusions can be challenging as most autoantibodies are directed against ubiquitous RBC antigens; thus, virtually all RBC donor units are incompatible. Given the severity of AIHA and the lack of treatment options, understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that facilitate the breakdown in tolerance would provide insight into new therapeutics. Herein, we report a new murine model of primary AIHA that reflects the biology observed in patients with primary AIHA. Production of anti-erythrocyte autoantibodies correlated with sex and age, and led to RBC antigen modulation, complement fixation, and anemia, as determined by decreased hematocrit and hemoglobin values and increased reticulocytes in peripheral blood. Moreover, autoantibody-producing animals developed splenomegaly, with altered splenic architecture characterized by expanded white pulp areas and nearly diminished red pulp areas. Additional analysis suggested that compensatory extramedullary erythropoiesis occurred as there were increased frequencies of RBC progenitors detectable in the spleen. No significant correlations between AIHA onset and inflammatory status or microbiome were observed. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a murine model that replicates observations made in humans with idiopathic AIHA. Thus, this is a tractable murine model of AIHA that can serve as a platform to identify key cellular and molecular pathways that are compromised, thereby leading to autoantibody formation, as well as testing new therapeutics and management strategies.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D004195 Disease Models, Animal Naturally-occurring or experimentally-induced animal diseases with pathological processes analogous to human diseases. Animal Disease Model,Animal Disease Models,Disease Model, Animal
D000744 Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune Acquired hemolytic anemia due to the presence of AUTOANTIBODIES which agglutinate or lyse the patient's own RED BLOOD CELLS. Anemia, Hemolytic, Idiopathic Acquired,Autoimmune Haemolytic Anaemia,Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia,Cold Agglutinin Disease,Hemolytic Anemia, Autoimmune,Acquired Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia,Anemia, Hemolytic, Cold Antibody,Cold Antibody Disease,Cold Antibody Hemolytic Anemia,Idiopathic Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia,Agglutinin Disease, Cold,Anaemia, Autoimmune Haemolytic,Anemia, Autoimmune Hemolytic,Autoimmune Haemolytic Anaemias,Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemias,Cold Agglutinin Diseases,Cold Antibody Diseases,Haemolytic Anaemia, Autoimmune
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D051379 Mice The common name for the genus Mus. Mice, House,Mus,Mus musculus,Mice, Laboratory,Mouse,Mouse, House,Mouse, Laboratory,Mouse, Swiss,Mus domesticus,Mus musculus domesticus,Swiss Mice,House Mice,House Mouse,Laboratory Mice,Laboratory Mouse,Mice, Swiss,Swiss Mouse,domesticus, Mus musculus

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