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Measurement of Heme Synthesis Levels in Mammalian Cells
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Haptoglobin, inflammation and disease

Isaac K Quaye1

  • 1Department of Medical Biochemistry, University of Ghana Medical School, Korle-Bu-Accra, Ghana. dr.quaye@gmail.com

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
|May 20, 2008
PubMed

Haptoglobin is an acute phase protein that scavenges haemoglobin in the event of intravascular or extravascular haemolysis. The protein exists in humans as three main phenotypes, Hp1-1, Hp2-2 and Hp2-1. Accumulated data on the protein's function has established its strong association with diseases that have inflammatory causes. These include parasitic (malaria), infectious (HIV, tuberculosis) and non-infectious diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity) among others. Phenotype-dependent poor disease outcomes have been linked with the Hp2-2 phenotype. The present review brings this association into perspective by looking at the functions of the protein and how defects in these functions associated with the Hp2 allele affect disease outcome. A model is provided to explain the mechanism, which appears to be largely immunomodulatory.

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