**Author details**

Lucie Rihova1,2, Karthick Raja Muthu Raja2,3, Luiz Arthur Calheiros Leite4 , Pavla Vsianska1,2,3 and Roman Hajek1,2,5

1 Department of Clinical Hematology, University Hospital Brno, Brno, Czech Republic

2 Babak Myeloma Group, Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ma‐ saryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

3 Department of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

4 Department of Biochemistry, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil

5 Department of Clinical Hematology, University Hospital Ostrava and Faculty of Medicine, Ostrava, Czech Republic

[4] Rawstron A.C., Orfao A., Beksac M. et al. Report of the European Myeloma Network on multiparametric flow cytometry in multiple myeloma and related disorders. Hae‐

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**Figure 3. Polychromatic analysis of PC phenotype and clonality.** A1-A3:Majority of clonal CD56+ckappa+CD27- PCs (99,7% of aPCs according to clonality assessment) is visible in MM patient at the time of diagnosis (purple dots). B1- B3:Mixture of clonal (aPCs, purple dots) and polyclonal PCs (nPCs, blue dots) is visible at 3rd month after transplantion; assessment of % aPCs is possible only when CD27 is used as some nPCs are CD19 and/or CD56+ as well.

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**Figure 3. Polychromatic analysis of PC phenotype and clonality.** A1-A3:Majority of clonal CD56+ckappa+CD27- PCs (99,7% of aPCs according to clonality assessment) is visible in MM patient at the time of diagnosis (purple dots). B1- B3:Mixture of clonal (aPCs, purple dots) and polyclonal PCs (nPCs, blue dots) is visible at 3rd month after transplantion;

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**Chapter 6**

**Monoclonal Gammopathy**

**of Undetermined Significance**

Magdalena Patricia Cortés, Rocío Alvarez,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/56138

**1. Introduction**

common is MGUS [3].

lambda (λ).

Jessica Maldonado, Raúl Vinet and Katherine Barría

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is an asymptomatic plasma cell dyscrasia, present in 3.2% of white people over 50 years of age [1], which converts to multiple myeloma (MM) or related disorders at a rate of just 1% a year [2], an incurable malignancy of plasma cells. While MM is the prototypical monoclonal gammopathy, the most

Monoclonal gammopathies are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by the stable or progressive proliferation of an abnormal clone of plasma cells that continue pro‐ ducing antibodies [4]. But because these immunoglobulin proteins are abnormal and mon‐ oclonal (identical copies of each other), these offer no protection against infections and can damage the kidney. This monoclonal immunoglobulin is called M-protein. Each basic unit is a monomeric immunoglobulin consisting of two heavy chains of the same class and subclass and two light chains of the same type. The heavy chain classes are G, A, M, D, E (gamma, alpha, mu, delta, epsilon), while the light chain types are kappa (κ) and

Monoclonal gammopathies are recognized on serum protein electrophoresis demonstrating a band of migration in the beta or gamma region [5]. When a band is seen on serum protein electrophoresis, immunofixation electrophoresis should be performed. Immunofixation electrophoresis is the gold standard and should be performed to confirm the presence of an

In 1952, Waldeström [7] initially reported finding an M-protein without evidence of malignant disorder, and named the condition "essential hypergammaglobulinemia". For some time, this

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 Cortés et al.; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

© 2013 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

M-protein and to distinguish its heavy chain and light chain type [6].

