Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Malignant Glial Tumors.

Serum levels of glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) were analyzed in 317 patients with primary and metastatic tumors of the brain, 78 patients with neurological diseases, and 66 normal subjects. A significant increase in the basal level of GFAP was typical of patients with glioblastomas in comparison with other groups (patients with astrocytomas, cerebral metastases, benign tumors, non-tumor diseases, and healthy subjects). An association of GFAP levels with unfavorable prognosis of overall survival in patients with glioblastoma was revealed.

Immunochemical Diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma.

The diagnostic potentialities of complex immunochemical analysis of the serum and daily urine were evaluated in 118 patients with multiple myeloma. In 95 patients, we observed secretion of monoclonal intact immunoglobulins with heavy chains G (N=69), A (N=19), and M (N=4) and biclonal secretion of paraproteins G and A (N=3). Bence-Jones protein was detected in the sera and daily urine of 16 patients and Bence-Jones proteinuria alone was detected in 3 patients.