Pathophysiology of the Monoclonal Gammopathies

Abstract

Two of the lymphoplasmacytic proliferative disorders making up the group of diseases called the monoclonal gammopathies are plasmacytic (or multiple) myeloma and primary (or Waldenstrom's) macroglobulinemia. Myeloma is basically a disease of bone and is marked by plasmacytic proliferation. Characteristic monoclonal changes can be found in almost 100 percent of these cases by combined serum and urine immunoelectrophoresis. In primary macroglobulinemia the predominant cellular expression is lymphocytic.