CHARACTERIZATION OF ANTIERYTHROCYTE AUTOANTIBODIES IN NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA PATIENTS IN BRAZIL

The existence of an association between autoimmune phenomena and lymph oproliferative neoplasms is well known. In Campinas at the University Hospital, seventy-seven adult patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NH L) were studied at diagnosis. The histological subgroup of NHL was per formed using Kiel criteria and all patients were characterized by clin ical and laboratory examinations according to the Ann Arbor staging. T he results of the immunohaematological evaluation of our patients with NHL showed that: 28% presented erythrocyte autoantibodies (auto anti- I or auto-IgG without specificity) but only one developed haemolytic a naemia. There was a weak correlation between low-grade lymphoma and er ythrocyte autoantibodies.