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Ferritin is a biomarker that reflects iron stores in the body. Testing ferritin levels on a blood panel is one of the diagnostic thresholds of diagnosing iron deficiency, says von Drygalski. The ...
The ideal is to increase the body's iron deposits, measured as levels of ferritin in serum, with the aim of reaching a ferritin value between 30 and 100 ng/mL. Another clinical study has shown an increase in ferritin levels in those taking iron compared with others receiving a placebo from persons with LID. [11]
Serum iron is a medical laboratory test that measures the amount of circulating iron that is bound to transferrin and freely circulate in the blood. Clinicians order this laboratory test when they are concerned about iron deficiency, which can cause anemia and other problems. 65% of the iron in the body is bound up in hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells.
Ferritin genes are highly conserved between species. All vertebrate ferritin genes have three introns and four exons. [8] In human ferritin, introns are present between amino acid residues 14 and 15, 34 and 35, and 82 and 83; in addition, there are one to two hundred untranslated bases at either end of the combined exons. [9]
Iron-deficiency anemia is confirmed by tests that include serum ferritin, serum iron level, serum transferrin, and total iron binding capacity. [59] A low serum ferritin is most commonly found. However, serum ferritin can be elevated by any type of chronic inflammation and thus is not consistently decreased in iron-deficiency anemia. [23]
Iron can be stored in ferritin as ferric iron due to the ferroxidase activity of the ferritin heavy chain. [28] Dysfunctional ferritin may accumulate as hemosiderin, which can be problematic in cases of iron overload. [29] The ferritin storage iron pool is much larger than the labile iron pool, ranging in concentration from 0.7 mM to 3.6 mM. [25]
Iron deficiency, or sideropenia, is the state in which a body lacks enough iron to supply its needs. Iron is present in all cells in the human body and has several vital functions, such as carrying oxygen to the tissues from the lungs as a key component of the hemoglobin protein, acting as a transport medium for electrons within the cells in the form of cytochromes, and facilitating oxygen ...
Diagnosis is based upon identification of symptoms, medical history, family history, and laboratory tests. Blood tests may show high levels of ferritin and low, normal, or high levels of transferrin saturation, depending on the form of hemochromatosis. The diagnosis must be confirmed by genetic testing for SLC40A1 mutations. [14]