L’immunosottrazione può rivelarsi più utile dell’immunofissazione nella tipizzazione di componenti monoclonali IgAl
AUTORI
Laboratorio Biochimica Clinica e Microbiologia, Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali Riuniti, Ancona
ABSTRACT
Immunosubtraction technique is sometimes more useful than immunofixation for typing IgAl monoclonal components
The characterization of a monoclonal component involves a serum protein electrophoresis and the immunotyping. Serum samples from 6 patients showed a slight anomalous peak in the b-region of the serum electrophoresis. Using immunofixation, only a heavy chains were typed, suggesting an a heavy chain disease. In 4 of these cases, the problem was observed when the monoclonal component was detected for the first time, with a potential risk of misdiagnosis. The 4 cases account for 5% of new monoclonal component IgA detected in the considered period. Although there are several reports on the lower sensitivity of immunosubtraction in comparison with immunfixation, we report here some exceptions about the usefulness of immunosubtraction in the identification of small IgAl monoclonal components.
