Useful For

Test includes:  Total Protein; Total Albumin; Alpha I Globulin; Alpha II Globulin; Beta Globulin; Gamma Globulin
 

If Monoclonal peak (M spike) is present, it will be quantitated and resulted in gm/dL

Use:  Serum protein electrophoresis separates the proteins into 5 generally distinct zones, composed of many individual proteins.  From the fastest to the slowest migrating, the 5 fractions have been designated as albumin, alpha1-globulins, alpha2-globulins, beta-globulins, and gamma globulins.  The clinical significance of screening proteins is in the ability to determine small changes in the concentrations of the different fractions during various disease states.  The observation of apparent changes from the “normal” serum electrophoretic pattern, either as the presence of extra components or as an increase of normally occurring components, allows the investigator to be alerted to the necessity of performing further protein studies.  Inborn genetic errors of protein production, i.e., hypogammaglobulinemia and bisalbuminemia, may be delineated by the electrophoretic pattern.

The electrophoresis of serum, in conjunction with urine and cerebrospinal fluids, affords the investigator an excellent diagnostic tool for the study of the dysgammaglobulinemias.Polyclonal gammopathies, such as seen in hepatitis and other infections, may be distinguished from the monoclonal gammopathies such as seen in multiple yeloma and Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.  See IFE (Immune Fixation Electrophoresis).