MACROGLOBULINEMIA: REPORT OF TWO CASES

Abstract

One of the two patients is surviving. Following treatment with nitrogen mustard and prednisone, a hemiplegia and facial hemiparesis disappeared, as did splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy. The amounts of macro-globulins in the serum decreased from 5.9 to 3.7 g/100 ml. Addition of mercaptoethanol to the serum resulted in the depolymerization of the macroglobulin molecule to 6 monomers of the size of gamma globulin. It appears that the macroglobulins are polymers of a protein unit of the same molecular dimensions as those of normal gamma globulin, and that the polymer cross linkage involved in their formation is of the nature of a sulfur-sulfur (cystine) bond.