| paraproteins | Abnormal immunoglobulins synthesised by atypical cells of the reticuloendothelial system. Paraproteins containing only light chains lead to bence jones paraproteinaemia, while the presence of only atypical heavy chains leads to heavy chain disease. most of the paraproteins show themselves as an m-component (monoclonal gammopathy) in electrophoresis. Diclonal and polyclonal paraproteins are much less frequently encountered. (12 Dec 1998) |
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