Ig lambda in serum
Reference interval
- Adults: 280-665 mg/dL
Principle
Lambda Reagent, when used in conjunction with Beckman Array Protein System & Calibrator I, is intended for quantitative determination of human Lambda (free & bound) by rate nephelometry. The method employed measures the rate of increase in light scattered from particles suspended in solution as a result of complexes formed during an antigen-antibody reaction.
The chemical reaction involved is antibody to human Lambda brought into contact with human Lambda in a sample. The increase in light scatter resulting from the antigen-antibody reaction is converted to a peak rate signal which is a function of the sample Lambda concentration. Following calibration, the peak rate signal is automatically converted to concentration units by the analyzer.
Clinical significance
Measurements of Lambda Light Chains are used in the diagnosis & treatment of patients with numerous illnesses including severe liver & renal disease, multiple myeloma, & other diseases of blood proteins.
Increases
Specimen
No special patient preparation is required. 200 uL of serum. Store sample in freezer (-15 to -25 C) until ready for assay. Highly lipemic samples may result in inaccurate determination & should be redrawn on a fasting patient.
Antigen Excess
When running IgG, IgA, IgM, Kappa, Lambda, Haptoglobin or CSF albumin it is sometimes possible to encounter specimens (for example, monoclonal proteins) which contain protein concentrations high enough to be in excess of the antibody in the reaction cell. In these cases, an antigen excess situation would lead to falsely low results if not detected. For this reason the Array antigen excess check monitors the kinetic reactions of these samples to ascertain if the potential for this condition of antigen excess exists. If the monitoring detects this potential situation, the system will make a third injection of antigen excess solution to verify whether free antibody remains in the reaction cell or not. If this third injection causes further reaction, free antibody is available & the result is reported. However, if the third injection does not trigger further reaction, the sample will be reassayed at a higher dilution.