Nephrotoxic Potential of Bence Jones Proteins

Abstract

The renal manifestations of diseases associated with the production of monoclonal light chains—myeloma (cast) nephropathy, light-chain deposition disease, and amyloidosis AL—result from the deposition of certain Bence Jones proteins as tubular casts, basement-membrane precipitates, or fibrils, respectively. For unknown reasons, the severity of the renal manifestations of these diseases varies greatly from patient to patient. We employed an experimental in vivo model to determine the pathologic importance of various Bence Jones proteins.