Anti-Kappa light chain (Hu) from Mouse (L1C1) – unconj.

The kappa light chain itself is one of the two small polypeptide subunits of an antibody, theother being lambda. Antibodies are produced by the B-cells in lymphoid tissue. Each Blymphocyte expresses either lambda or kappa light chain but never both together. Hence, thekappa light chain antibody is a useful marker for identifying B lymphocytes expressing kappalight chain.If a lymph node or other tissue of lymphoid origin is normal or benign, it should contain amixture of lambda and kappa light chain positive cells. However, if there is only one type, suchas all kappa light chain positive, then they may have all been derived from a clonalpopulation. This may be indicative of a pathological condition, including a malignancy. Assuch, the kappa light chain antibody has been reported to help identify leukemias,plasmacytomas and certain non-Hodgkin is lymphomas. The underlying mechanism ofidentification by the kappa light chain antibody in these various cancers would be theirexpression of the kappa, but not lambda, light chain.Hence, the kappa light chain antibody has an overall usefulness in identifying normal B-cellsexpressing kappa light chain as well as helping to identify malignancies or potentially otherpathologies characterized by a clonally derived kappa light chain positive population.