Polyclonal gammopathy (hypergammaglobulinemia) causes your immune system to make large amounts of infection-fighting antibodies, or immunoglobulins. The condition doesn’t cause symptoms. Polyclonal gammopathy may be a sign of different health issues. If you have it, healthcare providers will do tests to find the cause.
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Polyclonal gammopathy (hypergammaglobulinemia) is when different types of plasma B-cells in your immune system make large numbers of antibodies. Antibodies, also called immunoglobulins, are proteins that protect your body from intruders like bacteria and viruses. Large numbers of immunoglobulins may be a sign your immune system is fighting intruders. Polyclonal gammopathy isn’t a serious issue. But it may be a sign of infections, inflammation and other diseases.
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The condition doesn’t cause symptoms. Diseases or other issues that lead to polyclonal gammopathy may cause symptoms like:
Experts don’t know the exact cause. But they believe the following issues increase your risk:
Talk to a healthcare provider if you have any of these conditions. They may decide to do a blood test for polyclonal gammopathy.
High levels of immunoglobulins from polyclonal gammopathy may thicken your blood (hyperviscosity). This can cause bleeding, headaches and issues with your vision.
A healthcare provider may suspect you have polyclonal gammopathy if routine blood tests find high immunoglobulin levels. In that case, they’ll ask if you have any of the conditions that cause polyclonal gammopathy.
They’ll do a serum protein electrophoresis test (SPEP). This is a type of globulin blood test that measures immunoglobulins in your blood serum. Your provider will do other tests. For example, they do tests to find why you have polyclonal gammopathy.
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Polyclonal gammopathy is an immune system response. There’s no treatment for this condition. Healthcare providers will treat the issue that causes it. They may do tests during treatment to check your immunoglobulin levels.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you have polyclonal gammopathy and you have symptoms like headache or vision issues. These issues can happen if very high immunoglobulin levels make your blood thick.
Your prognosis (outlook) depends on the underlying condition. Polyclonal gammopathy is a sign of many conditions. Some are more serious than others. And factors like the disease type and whether treatment helps will affect your prognosis.
Your prognosis may be very different from others managing the same issues. That’s why your healthcare provider is your best source of information about what you can expect.
The difference is the number of cell types that make too many antibodies. In monoclonal gammopathy, your plasma cells make too many M protein antibodies. In polyclonal gammopathy, your B cells and plasma cells make large numbers of antibodies.
Your body has ways of signaling when something’s not right. Sometimes, the signals are changes in your body that you can feel, like being tired all the time or a fever that doesn’t go away. But other times, the signal is something only tests can detect.
Polyclonal gammopathy is when you have high levels of different immune proteins in your blood. There are many reasons why that may happen. If you have this condition, your healthcare provider will do more tests to find the cause. They’ll recommend treatments to manage the condition that triggered polyclonal gammopathy.
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Cleveland Clinic's health articles are based on evidence-backed information and review by medical professionals to ensure accuracy, reliability, and up-to-date clinical standards.
Cleveland Clinic's health articles are based on evidence-backed information and review by medical professionals to ensure accuracy, reliability, and up-to-date clinical standards.
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