A method is described that allows heavy-chain disease proteins to be simply detected. The sample is electrophoresed in an agarose plate containing kappa and lambda antisera in the lower section, and the relevant heavy-chain antisera in the upper section. Light chains and immunoglobulins containing light chains are precipitated in the lower region. Free “heavy chains” migrate into the upper regi...

BACKGROUND The amyloidoses are protein misfolding diseases characterized by the deposition of amyloid that leads to cell death and tissue degeneration. In immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis (AL), each patient has a unique monoclonal immunoglobulin light chain (LC) that forms amyloid deposits. Somatic mutations in AL LCs make these proteins less thermodynamically stable than their non-amyloi...

The two light chains of Physarum myosin have been purified in a 1:1 ratio with a yield of 0.5-1 mg/100 g of plasmodium and a purity of 40-70%; the major contaminant is a 42,000-dalton protein. The 17,700 Mr Physarum myosin light chain (PhLC1) binds to scallop myofibrils, providing the regulatory light chains (ScRLC) have been removed. The 16,500 Mr light (PhLC2) does not bind to scallop myofibr...

Correlation of Serum Immunoglobulin Free Light Chain Quantification with Urinary Bence Jones Protein in Light Chain Myeloma, Roshini S. Abraham, Raynell J. Clark, Sandra C. Bryant, James F. Lymp, Timothy Larson, Robert A. Kyle, and Jerry A. Katzmann ( Division of Clinical Biochemistry and Immunology, 2 Section of Biostatistics, 3 Division of Nephrology, and 4 Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic...

Background/Aims: Impaired immune function is common in patients with chronic renal failure. Now, we determined whether serum levels of free immunoglobulin light chains predict mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease stage 5 on hemodialysis. Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study of 160 hemodialysis patients with a median follow-up of 15 months (interquartile range, 3–44 mont...

OBJECTIVE Helicobacter pylori provokes a host of immune alterations upon colonizing the gastric mucosa. DESIGN We report 22 individuals with confirmed Helicobacter pylori infection who were also managed for the concurrent elevation of immunoglobulin free light chain (kappa and lambda) levels. RESULT Of the 22 patients, 15 patients (68.2%) had elevated free light chain levels: 6 patients (40...

We used nuclear magnetic resonance data to determine ensembles of conformations representing the structure and dynamics of calmodulin (CaM) in the calcium-bound state (Ca(2+)-CaM) and in the state bound to myosin light chain kinase (CaM-MLCK). These ensembles reveal that the Ca(2+)-CaM state includes a range of structures similar to those present when CaM is bound to MLCK. Detailed analysis of ...