Cl- regulates cryoglobulin structure: a new hypothesis for the physiopathological mechanism of temperature non-dependent cryoprecipitation

Abstract Cryoglobulins are pathological cold-precipitable immunoglobulins associated with a number of infectious, autoimmune and neoplastic disorders. Patients, when exposed to low temperatures, show symptoms related to intravascular precipitation of such immunoglobulins. The formation of cryoaggregates induced by exposure to cold temperature is the key pathogenetic mechanism. The subsequent intravascular precipitation can account for some clinical signs of peripheral vasculitis, but fails to explain the precipitation of cryoglobulins in regions where no significant temperature changes take place. We studied, in vitro, the activity of different ions on temperature-dependent aggregation of cryoglobulins and found that the concentration of Cl