Alpha chain disease: immunoglobulin abnormalities, pathogenesis and current concepts.

The laboratory findings upon which the diagnosis of alpha chain disease relies and the main results of immunochemical, structural and biosynthetic studies of the pathological immunoglobulin are reviewed briefly. The pathogenesis of the disease is discussed in view of its possibly non-malignant nature at the early stage and of its peculiar geographic distribution, suggesting the triggering role of an intestinal micro-organism.