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A paraprotein is an abnormal protein in the urine or blood, most often associated with benign MGUS (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance), where they remain "silent",[1] and multiple myeloma. An excess in the blood is known as paraproteinemia.
These are immunoglobulins or immunoglobulin light-chains that are produced by the clonal proliferation of plasma cells. Paraproteins form a narrow band, or 'spike' in protein electrophoresis as they are all exactly the same protein.
Monoclonal free light chains in the serum or urine are called Bence Jones proteins.
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History
The concept and term were introduced by the Berlin pathologist Dr Kurt Apitz in 1940,[2] at that time the Oberarzt of the pathological institute at the Charité hospital.[3]
Paraproteins allowed the detailed study of immunoglobulins, which eventually led to the production of monoclonal antibodies in 1975.
References
- ^ Maniatis A (1998). "Pathophysiology of paraprotein production.". Ren Fail 20 (6): 821–8. PMID 9834980.
- ^ Apitz K. Die Paraproteinosen. Über die Störungen des Eiweißstoffwechsels bei Plasmozytomen. Virchows Arch Pathol Anat 1940;306:630-699.
- ^ McDevitt HO. Albert Hewett Coons. In: "Biographical Memoirs", National Academy of Sciences 1996;69:26-37. ISBN 0-309-05346-3. Fulltext.
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See also
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