Animal models of autoimmune hemolytic disease

The dog is the principal known animal that develops spontaneous AIHA in the same confusing way as does man. All other occurrences of AIHA in animals are secondary to a variety of immune complex disorders. A recent review has more than adequately covered those conditions. The truly interesting point is that in all the animals studied except the dog, a viral etiology has been found in those conditions in which AIHA is expressed. Lastly, an area that has not been adequately exploited, and may well be an experimental direction to follow in the future, is the observation that graft-versus-host models could well provide significant new knowledge of the mechanisms involved in the recognition of self and subsequent cell destruction.