Nonreducing two-dimensional gel electrophoresis for the detection of Bence Jones proteins in serum and urine

Nonreducing two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) is described for the study of immunoglobulin disorders with asynchronous production of single chains. Unlike classical reducing 2-DE, this method can distinguish between complex intact molecules and their free single chains (with different degrees of polymerization) and will thus be helpful for diagnosis of this type of disease. Examples are taken from canine patients, but the method may also be applied to both urine and serum specimens from other species. Nonreducing 2-DE thus represents a useful tool complementary to classical 2-DE, when further information about the appearance of free subunits or modifications of proteins are required, even in the presence of intact molecules.