7/ During B-cell development, light chains undergo VJ recombination (they lack a D segment). B-cells start by trying to rearrange their κ loci first, and most succeed. They will only rearrange λ if they fail to make a κ chain

5/ Data has been accumulating that κ:λ ranges in renal impairment are increased, with the recent iStopMM trial suggesting ratios of up to 3.3 in eGFR <30 (Long et. al. 10.1038/s41408-022-00732-3)

2/ Basics first. A full sized antibody is built out of two heavy chains and two light chains. Like ice-cream, these chains come in a bunch of flavours. There are only two flavours of light chain, Kappa (κ) or Lambda (λ)

12/ (Incidentally, these IKZF proteins are why what might be the best titled article in Blood makes a bit more sense - but it takes some of the magic away)

6/ It wasn’t until 2010 that extensive work on thalidomide’s teratogenicity finally yielded a target – Cereblon (CRBN). We’ll forgive you if you’ve never heard of it. But, where does cereblon fit into this story? To understand this, we (unfortunately) need to talk about ubiquitylation

4/ Ongoing work in the 1990s showed a plethora of functions – thalidomide and its derivatives were effective inhibitors of TNF-α production, inhibited tumour angiogenesis, modulated NK function and more! (Image Corral et. al PMID 8827720)