Electroforesis

Clin Chem Lab Med 2012;50(1):77–80 © 2011 by Walter de Gruyter • Berlin • Boston. DOI 10.1515/CCLM.2011.723

Short Communication

Detection and quantification of M-proteinemia: comparison ofvarious methods for serum protein electrophoresis

Andries J. Bakker*, Coby Elderman-van der Werf and Tjallie van Abbema
Department of Clinical Chemistry, Klinisch Chemisch Laboratorium, Leeuwarden, TheNetherlands

Abstract
Background: Detection and quantification of monoclonal proteins is hampered when the monoclonal peak coincides with one of the regular bands in serum proteinelectrophoresis.The objective of this study was to evaluate four procedures for serum proteinelectrophoresis with respect to detection and quantification of monoclonal proteins. Methods: For 466 patient samples with amonoclonal protein, three variants of agarose gel electrophoresis (5-band, split-β and high resolution) and one variant of capillary electrophoresis were compared with the results of the routinelyused agarose gel electrophoresis followed by immunofixation analysis using specific or pentavalent antisera. Results: In total, 310 patient samples were analyzed by the four methods, consisting of 295samples with a monoclonal protein, seven with oligoclonal bands and eight without any bands. Suspicion of a monoclonal protein was raised in 295/256/256/232/265 of the samples using thereference/5-band/split-β/high resolution/capillary procedure. In 152/147/135/142/126 of the samples the concentration of monoclonal protein was >1.0 g/L and in 51/33/53/33/67 of the cases, the monoclonal protein wasnot separated from one of the normal protein zones. Conclusions: In high resolution agarose gel electrophoresis, monoclonal bands of low concentration often remain undetected. In split-β agarose gelelectrophoresis as well as capillary electrophoresis monoclonal bands more often were not separated from the regular protein bands. Keywords: agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) variants; capillary zone...