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A series of studies, principally from the Mayo Clinic, have indicated that patients with an abnormal free kappa to free lambda ratio have an increased risk of progression to active myeloma from precursor conditions including monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), [32] [33] smouldering myeloma [34] and solitary plasmacytoma ...
Once set, light chain class remains fixed for the life of the B lymphocyte. In a healthy individual, the total kappa-to-lambda ratio is roughly 2:1 in serum (measuring intact whole antibodies) or 1:1.5 if measuring free light chains, with a highly divergent ratio indicative of neoplasm. The free light chain ratio ranges from 0.26 to 1.65. [1]
In practice, this is inferred by the detection of only one of the mutually exclusive antibody light chains, kappa or lambda, on the entire population of the abnormal B cells. Normal B lymphocytes consist of a stew of different antibody-producing cells, resulting in a mixture of both kappa- and lambda-expressing cells.
In this article, all values (except the ones listed below) denote blood plasma concentration, which is approximately 60–100% larger than the actual blood concentration if the amount inside red blood cells (RBCs) is negligible.
Quantification is important for disease classification and for disease monitoring once a patient has been treated (increased skewing of the ratio between kappa and lambda light chains after a patient has been treated is an indication of disease recurrence).
Flow cytometry is often used to establish the clonal nature of the plasma cells, which will generally express only kappa or lambda light chain. Cytogenetics may also be performed in myeloma for prognostic purposes, including a myeloma-specific fluorescent in situ hybridization and virtual karyotype .
Light chain deposition disease can affect any organ. [3] Renal involvement is always present and can be identified by microscopic hematuria and proteinuria.Due to the gradual buildup of light chains from plasma filtration, renal function rapidly declines in the majority of patients with LCDD as either acute tubulointerstitial nephritis or rapidly progressing glomerulonephritis.
An inverted CD4 + /CD8 + ratio (namely, less than 1/1) indicates an impaired immune system. [3] [4] [5] Conversely, an increased CD4 + /CD8 + ratio corresponds to increased immune function. [6] Obesity and dysregulated lipid metabolism in the liver leads to loss of CD4 +, but not CD8 + cells, contributing to the induction of liver cancer. [7]