what is bence jones protien

defiore · Newbie Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 15

Hello. I'm 45 year old female and I would like to find out more about one specific thing. You see, about a month ago, the company I'm working in have made the decision that all its workers must have at least one complete medical examination yearly and that they will cover all the expenses. I have had this examination done immediately and the results came yesterday.
I came out positive for some strange proteins in my urine called Bence-Jones proteins. I don’t know anything about this but they called me from the clinic and told me that I should contact them as soon as possible. Should I be worried about this? What are these Bence-Jones proteins?

dietel · Silver Member Joined: 12 Dec 2000 Posts: 272

Hello. I'm medical student and I know some facts about these proteins you’ve mentioned in your post.
I'm very sorry about your condition but I believe you deserve to hear the whole truth. Bence Jones proteins are small proteins -chains of immunoglobulin found in the urine. These proteins are considered the first tumor marker. Do you know what this means?
A tumor marker is a substance, made by the body that is linked to a certain cancer, or malignancy. They don’t normally exist in the blood but when they are found in blood-they are made by plasma cells, a type of white blood cell and it is associated with a malignancy of plasma cells called multiple myeloma.
You should also know that high doses of penicillin or aspirin before collecting the urine can give a false positive result.

what is bence jones protien

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