Winfield, John B., Philip L. Cohen, Linda Bradley, et al. “IgM cryoprecipitation and anti-immunoglobulin activity in dysgammaglobulinemia type I.” Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology 23.1 (April 1982): 58-69. MEDLINE: 82234446. ISSN: 0090-1229.
The authors studied serum from three siblings in a large Lumbee family. The siblings had “dysgammaglobulinemia Type I, characterized by increased serum IgM and IgD, absent or low serum IgG and IgA, and increased numbers of IgM-containing plasmacytoid cells in peripheral blood . . . [and] revealed several unusual serologic abnormalities . . .” (abstract). The subjects were a 19-year-old male, a 24-year-old female, and a 35-year-old male. In each, the serum “exhibited unusual single-component IgM cryoprecipitation” (p.58); each had experienced pneumonia and otitis often since age 2.The authors' major finding was “an unusual IgM cryoglobulin in serum” (p.66) for each sibling. Only LgM was “specifically concentrated in the cryoprecipitates” (p. 66). Serum IgM was also well above normal rang in each subject. The authors also note that “the probable basis for the elevated serum IgD levels is increased IgD-secreting plasma cell activity in tonsils and adenoids” (p. 68).