Curcumin is a natural product currently in human clinical trials for a variety of neoplastic, preneoplastic, and inflammatory conditions. We previously observed that, in cultured cells, curcumin exhibits properties of an iron chelator. To test whether the chelator activity of curcumin is sufficient to induce iron deficiency in vivo, mice were placed on diets containing graded concentrations of ...

AIMS To investigate the clinical value and practice of reflective testing, a new term to describe the practice of adding on tests when reporting or clinically authorising results. METHODS A consultant medical biochemist collected over a calendar year (2001) copies of clinical biochemistry reports on samples to which he had added on either iron studies (iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC)...

BACKGROUND C282Y hereditary haemochromatosis is an appropriate condition for population screening. Transferrin saturation, the best screening test to date, is relatively expensive, labour intensive, and cannot be automated. Unsaturated iron binding capacity is a surrogate marker of transferrin saturation and its measurement can be automated. AIMS To evaluate a screening strategy for C282Y her...

background: the aim of the present study was to assess the mean corpuscular volume (mcv) as a surrogate marker for detecting early iron deficiency prior to definitive investigation and treatment. materials and methods: this study was done on one hundred students in swada preparatory school – sharkia governorate from 2010 to 2011. they were subdivided into three groups: group (a): comprised of 3...

The role of transferrin in iron delivery to tissues is described. Transferrin-dependent iron uptake by erythroid cells in the bone marrow is essential for the development of erythrocytes, while nontransferrin-bound iron can be taken up in tissues such as liver. On the basis of the evidence that iron distribution in the body is changed by iron saturation of plasma transferrin, the role of transf...

BACKGROUND The consumption pattern characterized by high consumption of vegetables, fruit, fish, olive oil and red wine has been associated with improvements in the total antioxidant capacity of individuals and reduced incidence of diseases related to oxidation. Also, high body iron levels may contribute to increase the oxidative stress by the generation of reactive oxygen species. The objectiv...

BACKGROUND Optimal iron levels in patients on hemodialysis are currently unknown, and a higher level than that for the healthy population is usually set for such patients considering the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents or the occurrence of chronic inflammation. However, excessive iron causes oxidative stress and impairment of its utilization by cells. Therefore we investigated the rela...

Ferroportin Disease (FD) is an autosomal dominant hereditary iron loading disorder associated with heterozygote mutations of the ferroportin-1 (FPN) gene. It represents one of the commonest causes of genetic hyperferritinemia, regardless of ethnicity. FPN1 transfers iron from the intestine, macrophages and placenta into the bloodstream. In FD, loss-of-function mutations of FPN1 limit but do not...

Patients with colorectal carcinoma showed statistically significant lower values of transferrin saturation, total iron binding capacity and serum iron level as compared with control group, while the level of ferritin and the size of labile iron pool in carcinoma patients were higher, although this difference was not statistically significant. Our observations are in favour of the hypothesis whi...

A method is described for measuring the plasma unsaturated iron-binding capacity in the presence of very high concentrations of iron as iron-dextran. The procedure utilizes (59)Fe to label the apotransferrin with subsequent separation of ionic iron from transferrin-bound iron on an ion exchange or Sephadex G.25 column. The unsaturated iron-binding capacity has been measured in rabbits and dogs ...