#M spike serum 2 free#
Monoclonal free light chains in the serum or urine are called Bence Jones proteins.īlood serum paraprotein levels of more than 30 g/l is diagnostic of smouldering myeloma, an intermediate in a spectrum of step-wise progressive diseases termed plasma cell dyscrasias. Serum free light-chain measurement can detect free light chains in the blood. Unlike normal immunoglobulin antibodies, paraproteins cannot fight infection. Paraproteins form a narrow band, or 'spike' in protein electrophoresis as they are all exactly the same protein. An excess in the blood is known as paraproteinemia. and Concise Review ĭetection of paraproteins in the urine or blood is most often associated with benign monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), where they remain "silent", and multiple myeloma. An explanation of the difference between multiple myeloma and MGUS can be found in the International Myeloma Foundation's Patient Handbook.
People will sometimes develop a condition called MGUS ( Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance), where there is overproduction of one antibody but the condition is benign (non-cancerous). When there is a malignant clone, there is usually overproduction of a single antibody, resulting in a "spike" on the normal distribution (sharp peak on the graph), which is called an M spike (or monoclonal spike). As a result, there is a characteristic normal distribution of these antibodies in the blood by molecular weight. Each type of antibody has a different number of light chain and heavy chain pairs. When someone has myeloma, a malignant clone, a rogue plasma cell, reproduces in an uncontrolled fashion, resulting in overproduction of the specific antibody the original cell was generated to produce. Antibodies are typically grouped into five types: IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM. There are thousands of different antibodies, each consisting of pairs of heavy and light chains. Plasma cells produce immunoglobulins, which are commonly called antibodies. Paraproteins allowed the detailed study of immunoglobulins, which eventually led to the production of monoclonal antibodies in 1975. The concept and the term paraprotein were introduced by the Berlin pathologist Dr Kurt Apitz in 1940, then the senior physician of the pathological institute at the Charité hospital.
0 kommentar(er)
