What is a serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP)?

[Music] what is a serum protein electrophoresis or an s pep sir approach electrophoresis is how we determine in m spike so it is measured on that test so s peps is short for serum protein electrophoresis this is a test that we normally do and people who have multiple myeloma or that we suspect they have multiple myeloma when we have regular blood tests on an annual physical exam we check a chemistry panel in the chemistry panel it can tell us the total amount of protein and the amount of albumin that our body has but in the blood we have many types of proteins that are floating around that we need so that we can survive some of those proteins are key to help develop more cells and some of those proteins are key to develop whether it be antibodies or to help fight infections or to just transmit one thing a message from one part of the body to the other so NS purpose of blood test that we can do in people who we suspect has an abnormal protein in their blood when we do a general blood test we can identify the total amount of protein and the amount of albumin that is in a patient but this does not tell us if there is if we have a large amount of proteins that is picked up by this test it can tell us if this is a particular protein that's being produced in an excess amount or if this is just a very healthy patient that has a lot of proteins in their body because they eat a lot of protein or they're in very good shape so s pep helps identify within all of the proteins that are floating around in the blood if there is a clone or a subset of those proteins that is abnormally high and if that is the case then we can then analyze that with additional tests like the immuno fixation or eye fix to then label that in determine if that abnormal amount of protein is caused by one particular protein or if it's just a reactive protein so an S but basically tells us if there is a large quantity of a protein in the blood and how much quantity it is but it does not have the ability to tell us if this protein is ever as a side-effect of inflammation an immune reaction of our rheumatologic disorder or a clonal process like a cancer or multiple myeloma [Music]