Thermal amplitude or thermal range refers to the temperature range in which a
cold autoantibody or
cold-reacting alloantibody
Alloimmunity (sometimes called isoimmunity) is an immune response to nonself antigens from members of the same species, which are called alloantigens or isoantigens. Two major types of alloantigens are blood group antigens and histocompatibility ...
binds to its
antigen
In immunology, an antigen (Ag) is a molecule or molecular structure or any foreign particulate matter or a pollen grain that can bind to a specific antibody or T-cell receptor. The presence of antigens in the body may trigger an immune response. ...
.
Cold antibodies that can bind to antigen above are considered potentially
clinically significant In medicine and psychology, clinical significance is the practical importance of a treatment effect—whether it has a real genuine, palpable, noticeable effect on daily life.
Types of significance Statistical significance
Statistical significance ...
and may lead to disease that occurs or worsens on exposure to low temperatures.
The closer the thermal range comes to core body temperature (37 °C or 99 °F), the greater the chance that the antibody will cause symptoms such as
anemia
Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...
or
Raynaud syndrome
Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, eponymously named after the physician Auguste Gabriel Maurice Raynaud, who first described it in his doctoral thesis in 1862, is a medical condition in which the spasm of small arteries cau ...
.
Antibodies that are only reactive at temperatures below are generally considered unlikely to be clinically significant.
References
Medical tests
Autoimmune diseases
Antibodies
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