What is the normal structure of an immunoglobulin (antibody)?

[Music] what is the normal structure of an amino globulin or an antibody antibodies have a structure it's kind of like anything that you build has a structure they have something called a heavy chain and they have something called a light chain and it's typically depicted on a in a in a picture as a why the heavy chain has the kind of the label on it of the IgG IgA IgG IgM that's sort of a constant region that's on the stem of the heavy chain that defines what that stem is and then the light chains like I said could be Kappa or lambda you know chocolate or vanilla so if you sort of picture this in your mind the normal structure of an antibody molecule it's like a big Y and those are the two big what what are called heavy chains that are the type of immunoglobulins and as I mentioned most often in myeloma it's IgG or IgA but on each side of that molecule there is a other flanking piece called a light chain and that will be either Kappa or lambda normally there is a small amount of these light chains in circulation usually just a couple of milligrams per deciliter of serum but often when people have myeloma one or the other of those particular light chains is quite elevated and that can help signal that a person has myeloma