Video

What is amyloidosis?

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HealthTree

• July 30, 2025

Details

Description

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amyloidosis is a protein disorder,

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it's a condition in which abnormal proteins which can come from

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a variety of different sources deposited in different organs in the body and cause them to

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work

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dysfunctional. So it commonly affects the heart, the kidneys, the GI tract, the liver,

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So it can go to a number of different places

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amyloidosis actually is a group of diseases where there are misfolded proteins that form

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fibrils or strands that

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become deposits in body tissues.

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and the organs involved can range from the heart to the kidneys to the liver or other organs.

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one of the most common subtypes is called Al amyloidosis, which is a disease related to multiple myeloma, because the protein deposits

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in that disease are made out of misfolded monoclonal light chains, the same kind of light chains that we measure in some patients with multiple myeloma.

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But in these patients, the chains form toxic tissue deposits.

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patients with al amyloidosis have an abnormal clone of plasma cells,

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But they don't have the traditional CRAB criteria with bone lesions and anemia and cast nephropathy that patients with myeloma have.

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The way that al amyloidosis is related to myeloma. Besides the fact that it's a clonal plasma disease is that there's a subset of myeloma patients who actually have concurrent al amyloid as part of their disease.

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Amyloidosis is a plasma cell disease in which malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow produce a light chain protein that circulates throughout the body, causing organ damage because the light chain aggregates in deposits in organs such as the heart, the kidneys, the liver and GI tract, and the peripheral nervous system.

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The toxicity of the light chains and the displacement the deposits cause result in organ damage and organ failure and early death.

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So amyloid itself is a form of protein deposit. It results in the aggregation of proteins into small strands and then into fibrils that deposit in the interstitium of the body's organs. The fibrils don't deposit in cells, they deposit in between cells. In addition, those deposits contain certain signature chaperon proteins that protect the fibrils.

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So it's a tissue deposit of an abnormal protein

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amyloidosis is a group of disorders where

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there is a misfolded protein that can deposit in organs and disrupt organ structure and function and

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The amyloidosis relevant to this group is when the underlying disease process is a plasma cell disorder that produces abnormal light chains that can misfolded into this substance called amyloid and typically

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it's related to multiple myeloma because the cell of origin is the same but distinct from multiple myeloma is the ability of this abnormal protein to fold into this substance called amyloid deposit in organs, disrupt organ structure and function and lead to morbidity.

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It is a rare disease in contrast to multiple myeloma,

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although it's probably more under-recognized than it is rare.

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it's about 20%

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less common than multiple myeloma.

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But it's very it's under-recognized because the symptoms of amyloidosis mimic

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more common conditions.

On this video

Sascha A. Tuchman, Specialist

Chapel Hill Comprehensive Cancer Center

Raymond L. Comenzo, Specialist

Tufts Medical Cancer Center

Jeffrey Zonder, MD, Specialist

Karmanos Cancer Institute

Heather Landau, MD, Specialist

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Transcript

What is amyloidosis? Amyloidosis is a protein disorder, and it's a condition in which abnormal proteins, which can come from a variety of different sources, deposit in different organs in the body and cause them to work dysfunctionally. So it commonly affects the heart, the kidneys, the GI tract, the liver. So it can go to a number of different places. Amyloidosis actually is a group of diseases where there are misfolded proteins that form fibrils or strands that become deposits in body tissues. And the organs involved can range from the heart to the kidney, their organs. One of the most common subtypes is called AL amyloidosis, which is a disease related to multiple myeloma because the protein deposits in that disease are made out of misfolded monoclonal light chains, the same kind of light chains that we measure in some patients with multiple myeloma. But in these patients, the light chains form toxic tissue deposits. Patients with AL amyloidosis have an abnormal clone of plasma cells, but they don't have the traditional crab criteria with bone lesions and anemia and cast nephropathy that patients with myeloma have. The way that AL amyloidosis is related to myeloma besides the fact that it's a clonal plasma disease is that there's a subset of myeloma patients who actually have concurrent AL amyloid as part of their disease. AL amyloidosis is a plasma cell disease in which malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow produce a light chain protein that circulates throughout the body causing organ damage because the light chain aggregates and deposits in organs such as the heart, the kidneys, the liver and GI tract and the peripheral nervous system. The toxicity of the light chains and the displacement the deposits cause result in organ damage and organ failure and early death. So amyloid itself is a form of protein deposit. It results in the aggregation of proteins into small strands and then into fibrils that deposit in the interstitium of the body's organs. The fibrils don't deposit in cells, they deposit in between cells. In addition, those deposits contain certain signature chaperone proteins that protect the fibrils. So it's a tissue deposit of an abnormal protein. Amyloidosis is a group of disorders where there is a misfolded protein that can deposit in organs and disrupt organ structure and function. The amyloidosis relevant to this group is when the underlying disease process is a plasma cell disorder that produces abnormal light chains that can misfold into this substance called amyloid. And typically it's related to multiple myeloma because the cell of origin is the same but What's distinct from multiple myeloma is the ability of this abnormal protein to fold into this substance called amyloid, deposit in organs, disrupt organ structure and function and lead to morbidity. It is a rare disease in contrast to multiple myeloma, although it's probably more under-recognized than it is rare. It's about 20% less common than multiple myeloma, but it's under-recognized because the symptoms of amyloidosis mimic more common conditions.

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