Biological properties of myeloma proteins.

The paraproteins frequently cause major symptoms in patients with plasma cell dyscrasias. This may be due to their quantity in the circulation, to some unusual physicochemical property, or to a biological effect resulting in interaction with other serum proteins. Detection of antibody-combining activity in myeloma proteins has led to important new information on combining-site structure and the kinetics of antigen-antibody-combining activity. Some antibody-combining specificities seem to be present in a higher than expected frequency. As yet, no major therapeutic advances have followed this more precise characterization of the paraprotein, though some interesting possibilities have been explored in animal models.