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Grand Magnate
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Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Sydney, Australia.
Posts: 3,093
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Grand Magnate
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Sydney, Australia.
Posts: 3,093
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Hi chadntx
I can not comment on the clinical significance of that finding, but with my immunologist hat on:
Antibodies are made by white blood cells called plasma cells. Each clone of plasma cells makes one kind of antibody - a monoclonal antibody. In some cancers (for example, multiple myeloma and plasmacytomas) a single clone of plasma cells expands, leading to high levels of a monoclonal antibody ("1 band") - this can be important in diagnosis.
In other situations a few clones of plasma cells will expand; this is called an oligoclonal response. It seems that this has happened to you - high levels of a few different antibodies are present, one from each clone - "16 bands".
I hope that this information helps you to ask your clinical care team informed questions.
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