These rare but extremely serious diseases are due to a disruption of the immune cells which produce the antibodies, the plasma cells. Rather than defending us against pathogens, the abnormal antibodies produced by these cells will aggregate and be deposited in different organs causing them to malfunction.

The team headed by Christophe Sirac, Professor of University in Limoges and member of the CRIBL unit developed, in a first study, a new diagnostic test to facilitate the detection of these diseases (Bender et al. Blood, 2020). In a second study, highlighted by a commentary in Blood, the team developed a new experimental model to study the mechanisms of onset of these diseases and to develop new treatments (Bender et al. Blood 2020).

The international recognition of the CRIBL unit in these diseases is reinforced by its close collaboration with the centre national de référence des amyloses AL et autres maladies de dépôts d’immunoglobulines, led by Professors Arnaud Jaccard at CHU of Limoges and Frank Bridoux at CHU of Poitiers.