This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Aetiology

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

In adults, pernicious anaemia is an auto-immune disorder.

Auto-antibodies to gastric parietal cells are present in 90% of cases but are not pathognomonic as they may occur:

  • in other disorders, for example, Addison's disease; iron deficiency anaemia
  • in normal relatives of those with PA
  • in 16% of randomly selected women over 60 years

Auto-antibodies to intrinsic factor are more specific. They are found in the serum in 55% of cases and in gastric juice in 80%. They are of two types:

  • blocking antibody - directed towards the combining site for vitamin B12 on IF
  • binding antibody - reacts with an antigenic determinant on IF distinct from the B12 combining site; the reaction may be with free IF or with IF-B12 complex in the terminal ileum to inhibit absorption.

In children pernicious anaemia may occur very rarely due to congenitally absent or abnormal intrinsic factor.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.