Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffMonoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance occurs when plasma cells in your bone marrow produce an abnormal protein called monoclonal protein (M protein). Plasma cells are a type of white blood cell. They are found in your bone marrow. Plasma cells produce some of the antibodies that help your body fight infection.
In the majority of people with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, the protein isn't harmful. But when too much M protein accumulates, it crowds out healthy cells in your bone marrow and can damage other tissues in your body.
Genetic changes appear to play a role in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, as do environmental triggers.
- Rajkumar SV. Diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed April 3, 2013.
- Rajkumar SV. Clinical course and management of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed April 3, 2013.
- Blade J. Monoclonal gammopathies of undetermined significance. New England Journal of Medicine. 2006;355:2765.
- Rajkumar SV, et al. Advances in the diagnosis, classification, risk stratification, and management of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: Implications for recategorizing disease entities in the presence of evolving scientific evidence. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2010;85:945.
- Therneau TM. Incidence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and estimation of duration before first clinical recognition. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2012;87:1071.
Find Mayo Clinic on