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Nontransferrin-bound iron in plasma from hemochromatosis patients: effect of phlebotomy therapy
O I Aruoma1, A Bomford, R J Polson
1Department of Biochemistry, University of London, United Kingdom.
Plasma from patients with iron overload resulting from idiopathic hemochromatosis contains nontransferrin-bound iron, measurable by the bleomycin, assay. During venesection therapy, the concentration of bleomycin iron declines in a way highly correlated with plasma ferritin concentrations. Even when patients had been venesected to give very low total plasma iron concentrations and high transferrin iron-binding capacity, bleomycin-detectable iron was still present at low concentrations. Bleomycin-detectable iron can stimulate damaging free radical reactions, and its persistence in plasma even after prolonged venesection might contribute to the tissue damage that results from iron overload.
Plasma from patients with iron overload resulting from idiopathic hemochromatosis contains nontransferrin-bound iron, measurable by the bleomycin, assay. During venesection therapy, the concentration of bleomycin iron declines in a way highly correlated with plasma ferritin concentrations. Even when patients had been venesected to give very low total plasma iron concentrations and high transferrin iron-binding capacity, bleomycin-detectable iron was still present at low concentrations. Bleomycin-detectable iron can stimulate damaging free radical reactions, and its persistence in plasma even after prolonged venesection might contribute to the tissue damage that results from iron overload.