Amyloidosis: a final common pathway for protein deposition in tissues

This review summarizes recent advances in understanding of the amyloid diseases. They are of interest to hematologists for at least three reasons: (a) Many of the precursor proteins circulate in the blood, (b) one of the more common types of amyloidosis is a plasma cell dyscrasia, and (c) many patients with amyloid disorders require hematological evaluation at some time during the course of their disease