The assessment of serum soluble transferrin receptor in alcoholics

The consumption of large amounts of alcohol disturbs body iron metabolism and leads to increase of body iron stores and may cause various hematologic changes. Both, iron overload and iron depletion could have effect on the metabolic, transit and storage pools. These pools and its indicators were evaluated previously in abusers, but there is no information concerning the serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) as a new marker of transit compartment. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the sTfR and compare it to the other indicators of transit pool in alcoholics. sTfR was measured immunoturbidimetrically. The markers of alcohol abuse, metabolic, transport and storage pools and the other hematologic assays were determined by routine laboratory methods. The tested group consisted of 148 alcoholics. The abusers were not affected by anemia. Every second patient had increased iron storage pool. Serum iron level only tended to increase. The mean serum sTfR did not show any significant difference and the mean transferrin-ferritin index (sTfR/log ferritin ratio) was significantly decreased compared with the controls. None of the transit pool markers presented significant differences between subgroups classified according to liver enzyme activities. We suggest that the iron excess in alcoholics did not limit the cellular iron uptake by transferrin receptor-mediated endocytosis which was confirmed by the unchanged level of serum soluble transferrin receptor. Additionally, the serum sTfR in alcohol abusers is independent of the weekly alcohol intake, age of the patients, duration of dependence, time of abstinence, time of last drinking and the liver function tests.