U protein and migration ratios in paper electrophoresis.

HE PROTEINS OF NORMAL HUMAN SERUM have been resolved both by moving-boundary and filter-paper electrophoresis chiefly into five components: albumin, , , , and’ globulins. In various disease states, by both technics, other protein components have been described. A component migrating between 22 globulin and beta globulin has been observed by Block et al. (1) in primary systemic amyloidosis and was designated 2 by these workers. Workers in Japan (2) have noted a similar component in tuberculosis; their protein was named alpha-3 globulin. The term “28 globulin,” however, was also applied to a fraction which was found in cases of fulininating viral hepatitis and which migrated between the 2j and 22 globulins (3). Franklin et a. (4) described ‘,-l globulin, migrating between beta globulin and the gamma globulin in cases of chronic liver disease. These authors discuss the similarity between their 71 globulin and the “T” and “X” components of other investigators (5-8). This paper is to describe a protein component, migrating between 22 and fi globulin (Fig. 1), which was originally observed in children with liver disease, occasionally observed in sera of normal infants and children, but especiafly in sera of children with chronic glomerulonephritis and nephrotic syndrome. Aiphas globulin would be the desirable name for this fraction (2), but 2 globulin has been