Molecular Diseases 2: Molecules

More than one hundred years after its discovery, Edelman and Poulik identificated the Bence-Jones protein as the monoclonal light chain of immunoglobulin secreted by tumor plasma cells. Monoclonal paraproteins appear as sharp bands in the globulin area in electrophoretic patterns of serum. Diagnosis of multiple myeloma is often made based on this finding or on the presence of an elevated level of monoclonal immunoglobulin in the serum. Molecules in tumors arepresent in or produced by a tumo...