Hevylite and Paraprotein Concentration in Monitoring Multiple Myeloma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Study comparing Hevylite and paraprotein concentration as a measure of response to treatment in Multiple Myeloma patients.
IRAS ID
239726
Contact name
Ravinder Sodi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
The aim of this study is to identify if Hevylite concentration is a better marker for response to treatment in patients with myeloma than the current practice of capillary zone electrophoresis measuring paraprotein concentration. The research project will be a study carried out using samples collected for the purposes of multiple myeloma monitoring. The study will compare changes in paraprotein concentration, as quantified by capillary zone electrophoresis and changes in Hevylite concentrations. The current method of serum electrophoresis used to detect and monitor paraproteins in multiple myeloma patients can be inaccurate due to a number of interferences with this method. Accurate quantification of paraproteins may be difficult as myeloma proteins can co-migrate with other proteins such as transferrin, lipoprotein and C3, particularly in patients with IgA paraproteins, leading to misinterpretation. The lower limit for paraprotein quantification is 1 g/L and so cannot be used to quantify smaller changes to paraprotein concentration in response to treatment or detect a relapse. Hevylite chain testing allows for the quantification of involved immunoglobulin and uninvolved polyclonal immunoglobulin of the same immunoglobulin type, given as a ratio. This enables us to give an accurate quantification even in cases when the paraprotein co-migrates during electrophoresis. Hevylite assays are also less labour intensive and interpretation is less subjective. Relapse of disease can occur slowly without clinical signs or symptoms and so it is important to detect this quickly. It is hoped that this method will allow us to detect changes in paraprotein concentration at an earlier stage and therefore allow more accurate monitoring of response to treatment and disease progression.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
18/NS/0012
Date of REC Opinion
13 Mar 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion