What is the function of ferroportin?
What is the function of ferroportin?
Ferroportin is a transmembrane protein that transports iron from the inside of a cell to the outside of the cell. Ferroportin is the only known iron exporter. After dietary iron is absorbed into the cells of the small intestine, ferroportin allows that iron to be transported out of those cells and into the bloodstream.
How does ferroportin contribute to maintaining iron levels?
Ferroportin functions as a hepcidin-regulated valve that controls the efflux of recycled, dietary, and stored iron into plasma transferrin. In turn, hepcidin levels are controlled by an as yet undefined plasma iron sensor. Oxygen and inflammatory cytokines also regulate hepcidin.
What protein causes anemia by inhibiting ferroportin?
Hepcidin inhibits iron export from cells by interacting directly with ferroportin, leading to the internalization and lysosomal degradation of this iron export protein (Nemeth et al., 2004b).
Which cells ferroportin?
Early work confirmed that ferroportin is highly expressed by cells and tissues associated with iron transport: duodenal enterocytes, liver Kupffer cells and splenic red pulp macrophages, periportal hepatocytes, and the placental syncytiotrophoblast (Figure 1).
How does the body regulate iron?
At the whole-body level, dietary iron absorption and iron export from the tissues into the plasma are regulated by the liver-derived peptide hepcidin. When tissue iron demands are high, hepcidin concentrations are low and vice versa. Too little or too much iron can have important clinical consequences.
What is functional iron deficiency?
Functional iron deficiency (defined as ferritin greater than 200 ng/mL with TSAT (Transferrin saturation) less than 20%) is characterized by the presence of adequate iron stores as defined by conventional criteria, but with insufficient iron mobilization to adequately support.
What suppresses iron absorption?
Substances (such as polyphenols, phytates, or calcium) that are part of some foods or drinks such as tea, coffee, whole grains, legumes and milk or dairy products can decrease the amount of non-heme iron absorbed at a meal. Calcium can also decrease the amount heme-iron absorbed at a meal.
Can having low iron make your immune system weak?
Research has shown iron deficiency anaemia can affect your immune system – the body’s natural defence system. This increases your vulnerability to infection.
Why is hepcidin low in iron deficiency anemia?
In conditions of iron deficiency, the reduction of hepcidin production is an adaptation mechanism that facilitates dietary and pharmacological iron absorption (Camaschella and Pagani, 2018). When anemia is severe, the coexisting hypoxia stimulates erythropoiesis through increased kidney synthesis and release of EPO.
What causes low levels of ferroportin in the body?
Mutations of the SLC40A1 gene result in low levels of functional ferroportin. The lack of functional ferroportin ultimately results in the abnormal accumulation of iron in the cells and tissues of the body.
How are antioxidants used to treat Ferroportin Disease?
Such therapies include iron chelators and antioxidants. Iron chelators are drugs that bind to the excess iron in the body allowing it to be dissolved in water and excreted from the body through the kidneys. Antioxidants such as vitamin E are substances that are believed to protect cells from damage from unstable molecules called free radicals.
Can a ferroportin mutation cause iron overload?
A ferroportin mutation has been found in a patient from the Solomon Islands, suggesting that the previously described Polynesian iron overload may be related to a ferroportin mutation. 62 Treatment is by a slow phlebotomy protocol (500 ml, once per month) because anemia develops with weekly phlebotomy. Stacey L Clardy,
How can you tell if you have Ferroportin Disease?
Diagnosis. Blood tests can reveal certain findings associated with ferroportin disease including high levels of ferritin in the blood and, in the milder form of the disease, low or normal saturation of transferrin, another protein that plays a role in the proper transport of iron within the body.