b2-Microglobulin (b2M) (APC)

Beta-2-microglobulin (B2M) is found in the serum of normal individuals and in the urine in elevated amounts in patients with Wilson disease, cadmium poisoning and other conditions leading to renal tubular dysfunction. Like immunoglobulins, prealbumin and the beta protein found in the amyloid of Alzheimer disease, B2M has a predominantly beta-pleated sheet structure that may adopt the fibrillar configuration of amyloid in certain pathologic states. The protein is a single polypeptide chain of molecular weight 11,600 (human 119aa, chromosome 15). B2M associates with heavy chain of class I MHC antigens...