BENCE-JONES PROTEIN 529 



Normal bone marrow does not contain this protein (Nerking^'*). 

 Roscnbloom'"' has found evidence that Bence-Joncs protein may pos- 

 sibly be derived from the osseo-albunioid of the bones. Weber and 

 Ledin<j;ham''^ have suggested that it comes from the cytophismic resi- 

 due of kar3'olyzed plasma cells. The observation that under benzol 

 treatment the amount of Bence-Jones protein in the urine of leukemic 

 patients is reduced (Boggs and Guthrie^^) is also good evidence of 

 its myelogenous nature. The fact that Abderhalden and Rostoski''^ 

 found that the serum of rabbits immunized with Bence-Jones protein 

 gives the precipitin reaction with human serum, is evidence that the 

 protein is a human tissue protein and not merely an absorbed and 

 excreted food protein. This has been corroborated b}' Hopkins and 

 Savory/^ who also found that the amount of protein in the urine, 

 which contained about one-third the total nitrogen excreted, varied 

 with the general metabolism and was not controlled by the diet. 

 Massini^^ reports securing positive complement fixation tests with 

 immune sera, differentiating the Bence-Jones protein from normal 

 serum proteins; positive sensitization tests were not obtained by cu- 

 taneous injections of the protein by Boggs and Guthrie. Injected 

 into the blood it is non-toxic and does not lower coagulability as a pro- 

 teose would. It is capable of acting as an antigen in anaphylaxis 

 reactions, which also indicates that it is a complete protein and not a 

 cleavage product. ''^ When injected into dogs it is partly utilized, 

 although nephritic animals excrete it partly hydrolyzed into proteose. ^^ 



'^ Biochem. Zeit., 1908 (10), 167; corroborated by Hopkins and Savory, Jour. 

 Physiol., 1911 (42), 189. 



" Arch. Int. Med., 1912 (9), 236. 



^1 Foha Hematol., 1909 (8), 14. 



« Zeit. physiol. Chem., 1905 (46), 125. 



'^ Corroborated also bv Boggs and Guthrie, Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1912 (144), 

 80;^; Folin and Denis, Jour. Biol. Chem., 1914 (18), 277. 



*^ Deut. Arch. khn. Med., 1911 (104), 29. 



« Taylor and Miller, Jour. Biol. Chem., 1916 (25), 281; 1917 (29), 425. 



