Serum free light chains in the differential diagnosis and prognosis of primary and secondary hypogammaglobulinemia

In all 14 patients with the CVID-like pattern of sFLCs, the BMB specimen was normal, whereas in 41 (91%) of 45 patients with a non-CVID-like pattern, a diagnosis of LPD was made (see Table E2 in this article's Online Repository at www.jacionline.org). [...]the CVID-like pattern of sFLCs showed a complete diagnostic concordance with the results of BMBs. Flow cytometric data showed a significant increase in the percentage of naive B cells and a significant decrease in numbers of switched memory, marginal zone, CD21low B cells (Fig 2). [...]the κ-λ- pattern seems to be characterized by normal development of naive and transitional B cells and a marked decrease of the subsets linked to B-cell activation and immunoglobulin production.