Free light chains in serum in the diagnosis of Monoclonal Gammopathies

Cadenas ligeras libres en suero en el diagnóstico de Gammapatías Monoclonales

Monoclonal gammopathies are a group of diseases caused by the clonal proliferation of plasma cells that secrete the same type of immunoglobulin, known as clonal immunoglobulin. The prognosis of these hematological diseases depends on the early diagnosis, in Multiple Myeloma is associated with a less serious disease. Laboratory tests play an important role in the different stages of clinical management of patients with Monoclonal gammopathies, including traditional tests such as serum protein electrophoresis, immunofixation, and the determination of free light chains in serum it is considered an important complementary test since it allows initially to show the presence of Monoclonal gammopathies in an early way due to its high sensitivity, likewise it allows to quantify the kappa / lambda free light chains and to determine the monoclonality through the respective quotient, this is a parameter that since 2014 is integrated into the myeloma diagnostic criteria according to the International Myeloma Working Group.
As a methodology, the search of bibliographic material was carried out: the keywords were defined using the DeCS and MeSH descriptors, the search for information in the PubMed, ScienceDirect bibliographic databases was started and an internet search was carried out with the “google academic” search engine with the same terms. Those articles and internet pages that had information of interest, that met the requirements to be included in the review article, were stored in a database and finally the critical reading of the information was selected.