Clinical Evaluation of the Serum Free Light Chain Analysis
Clinical Evaluation of the Serum Free Light Chain Analysis
Background: in patients with multiple myeloma there is a raised level of a protein, named
 M-protein. This M-protein is normally used to monitor disease status and evaluate response to
 treatment, as a decrease in M-protein is taken as evidence of therapeutic efficacy. However,
 the M-protein has a long half life in serum, approximately three weeks, which tend to be a
 practical problem, since the investigators can first determine hereafter if the treatment is
 effective.

 A new assay has the possibility only to measure part of this protein, namely "the light
 chains", which also is measured in a blood sample. The half life of these light chains is
 much shorter, namely 2-6 hours. In theory, this means a more rapid measure of the effect of a
 given treatment, thereby being able to determine earlier if the treatment should continue or
 changed to another strategy.

 Purpose: the purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical value of the use of the serum
 free light chain (sFLC) assay in comparison to the M-protein in monitoring patients under
 treatment for multiple myeloma.

 Method: the investigators measure sFLC in patients receiving there 1st treatment, either at
 the time of diagnosis or in the relapse setting. sFLC is measured on a regular basis, and the
 results are compared to the M-protein.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  diagnosis of multiple myeloma

 -  abnormal serum free light chains

 -  medical needs of anti-myeloma therapy

 -  receiving standard anti-myeloma therapy

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  dialysis

 -  normal serum free light chains

 -  dementia