Cancer and monoclonal gammopathy

HIV, EBV, and monoclonal gammopathy.

In this issue of Blood, Ouedraogo et al have investigated the role of HIV and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) replication in the persistence of monoclonal gammopathy.1 It has been known for some time that patients with HIV infection have an increased incidence of monoclonal gammopathy and plasma cell dyscrasias.2,3 The exact mechanism of monoclonal gammopathy in patients with HIV infection is unknown,...

Monoclonal gammopathy and rheumatic diseases.

It is common to find monoclonal gammopathy in the investigation workout for an unrelated disorder. There are studies relating rheumatic diseases and therapies which show an increased risk of monoclonal gammopathy. The specific mechanisms are not well understood but chronic antigen stimulation assumes an important role. Specific rheumatic diseases have consistently been associated with lymphopro...

Neuropathy, amyloidosis, and monoclonal gammopathy.

Three cases of neuropathy with monoclonal gammopathy and amyloid deposits in peripheral nerves are described. They appeared to present a benign gammopathy because of the duration of the neuropathy in the absence of any clinical or biological sign of myeloma or macroglobulinaemia. The pathological abnormality found in the sural nerves of the three patients was characterised by a marked loss of m...

Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.

Herpes Encephalitis in Monoclonal Gammopathy

Ninety percent of adult cases of encephalitis are caused by herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1, and HSV type 2 encephalitis is clinically indistinguishable from HSV-1 encephalitis. There have been reports of HSV encephalitis in patients who have multiple myeloma and plasmacytoma,1-3 but this is the first case report describing HSV encephalitis in a patient with monoclonal gammopathy of unknown s...