Frequency of Monoclonal Gammapathy (‘M Components’) in 13,400 Sera from Blood Donors

Serum electrophoresis were performed in 13,400 healthy adult subjects (blood donors) and 20 cases of monoclonal gammapathy were detected: ten cases out of 10,300 blood donors from Paris and ten out of 3,100 blood donors from Saint-Nazaire. The frequency of ‘M Component’ was of 0.1 and 0.3%, respectively. Four cases were related to myeloma or Waldenstrom's macroglobulinaemia and the other 16 cases could be ascribed to a ‘benign essential monoclonal gammapathy’ (BEMG). The distribution of heavy and light chain classes in BEMG was 13 γ (11 K and 2 L) and 3 MK. This screening of a normal population allowed detection of either clinically premalignant states or the occurrence and evolution of benign essential forms of gammapathies.