Iron Metabolism and Storage

Dr Graham Jones
Staff Specialist in Chemical Pathology
St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney
UNSW Lecture, May 2005
 Summary
• Overview
• Iron absorption
• Iron distribution
• Iron storage
• Iron loss
• Testing for iron status

• Highlight:
– Physiological principles
– Clinical conditions
– Available tools for patient management
 Iron and clinical Medicine
• Common diseases
– Iron deficiency
– Iron overload
– Anaemia of chronic disease
• Third world and first world diseases
• Individual v population health
• Vested interests
– Meat industry
– Vegetarian groups
• Historical settings
 Iron
• Element (Fe)
• Molecular weight 56
• Abundance
• May be 2+ or 3+
– Ferrous (2+) “reduced” - gained an electron
– Ferric (3+) “oxidised” - lost an electron
Fe+++ + e-  Fe++
• Redox states allows activity passing electrons
around body
• Redox change required for iron metabolism
 Iron functions
• Oxygen carriers
– haemoglobin
• Oxygen storage
– Myoglobin
• Energy Production
– Cytochromes (oxidative phosphorylation)
– Krebs cycle enzymes
• Other
– Liver detoxification (cytochrome p450)

• An essential element
 Iron Toxicity
• Iron can damage tissues
• Catalyzes the conversion of hydrogen
peroxide to free-radical ions
• Free-radicals can attack:
– cellular membranes
– Proteins
– DNA

• Iron excess possibly related to cancers,

cardiac toxicity and other factors
 Principle
• Bodies require the right amount of substance
• Too much or too little of any required
substance may be detrimental

• “There is no substance, which taken in

sufficient excess, is not toxic to the body”
 Iron Distribution
• 35 – 45 mg / kg iron in adult male body
• Total approx 4 g
– Red cell mass as haemoglobin - 50%
– Muscles as myoglobin – 7%
– Storage as ferritin - 30%
• Bone marrow (7%)
• Reticulo-endothelial cells (7%)
• Liver (25%)
– Other Haem proteins - 5%
• Cytochromes, myoglobin, others
– In Serum - 0.1%
 Iron Transport in Blood
• Red cells
– As haemoglobin
– Cannot be exchanged
• Plasma
– Bound to Transferrin
– Carries iron between body locations
– eg between gut, liver, bone marrow,
macrophages
– Iron taken up into cells by transferrin receptors
 Transferrin
• Protein MW 77,000
• Synthesised in the liver.
• Two diantennary carbohydrate chains.
• Each molecule binds can bind two Fe3+
molecules (oxidised)
• Contains 95% of serum Fe.
• Usually about 30% saturated with Fe.
• Production decreased in iron overload.
• Production increased in iron deficiency.
• Measured in blood as a marker of iron status.
 Transferrin Testing
• A routine blood test used for iron status
• Also known as TIBC (total iron binding capacity)
• High levels:
– Low body iron stores.
• Low levels:
– High body iron stores.
• Other conditions
– Increase: high oestrogen states (pregnancy, OCP)
– Decrease: malnutrition, chronic liver disease,
chronic disease (eg malignancy), protein-losing
states, congenital deficiency, neonates, acute
phase (negative reactant).
 Principle
• Interpretation of a “blood test” requires
knowledge of all factors which affect
concentration
• Includes
– Disease of interest (signal)
– Other conditions (noise)
 Transferrin Receptors
• Collects iron from transferrin for uptake into
cells
– Recognises and binds transferrin
– Receptor + transferrin endocytosed
– Iron released into cell via Iron transporter
(DMT1)
– Receptor + transferrin return to cell surface
– Transferrin released
Soluble Transferrin Receptors
• Truncated form of cell surface receptors
• Found in the circulation
• High levels with iron deficiency
• Low levels with iron overload
• Possible role in diagnosis of iron deficiency
compared in setting of inflammation
• Not currently routinely available
 Opinion
Unrealistic
Over-enthusiasm

Initial optimism

Realistic adoption

New idea
Backlash
antipathy

• New technology introduction – progress chart

 Serum Iron
• The serum contains about 0.1% of body iron
• Over 95% of iron in serum bound to
transferrin
• Serum iron is a routine blood test
• Measures all serum iron (not in red cells)
• Of limited use on its own
• Useful for interpretation of iron status only if
grossly abnormal – eg iron poisoning
• Commonly combined with serum transferrin
to express transferrin saturation
 Serum Iron Measurement
• Serum iron is a routine blood test
• Low levels:
– Iron deficiency
– Other: Random variation; acute or chronic
inflammation; pre-menstrual.
• High levels:
– Iron Overload
– Other: Random variation, OCP, pregnancy,
recent iron ingestion.
 Transferrin Saturation
• Percent of transferrin (TIBC) iron-binding
sites which are filled with iron
• Combines two factors to improve sensitivity
• Iron overload
– High iron plus low transferrin
– High saturation (50 – 100%)
• Best serum marker of increased body iron
• Used as a screen for iron overload
 Transferrin Saturation
NORMAL IRON STATUS

Normal iron Normal transferrin Saturation 40%

IRON OVERLOAD

High iron Low transferrin Saturation 80%

Transferrin Iron
 Iron Storage - Ferritin
• Iron store in the liver and nearly all other cells.
• MW 460,000.
• Outer shell: apoferritin, consists of 22 protein
subunits
• Iron-phosphate-hydroxide core.
• 20% iron by weight, binding up 4,500 atoms of
iron per molecule.
• Small fraction found in circulation (contains
less than 1% of serum iron).
• Stores iron and releases it in a controlled
fashion.
 Ferritin - Measurement
• A routine blood test – reflects iron stores
• Low serum levels
– Indicate Iron deficiency (high specificity)
• High serum levels
– Iron overload
• Other - Ferritin may be increased in serum by:
– Tissue release (hepatitis, leukaemia, lymphoma)
– Acute phase response (tissue damage, infection,
cancer)
• Interpretation
– Low levels always indicate Fe deficiency.
– Other factors may mask deficiency
 Iron Loss
• Physiological
– Cell loss: gut, desquamation
– Menstruation (1mg/day)
– Pregnancy, lactation
• Pathological
– Bleeding
– Gut, menorrhagia, surgery, gross haematuria
 Iron re-use
• Old cells broken down in macrophages in
spleen and other organs
• Iron transported to liver and other storage sites

• Red cell iron recovered from old red cells

• Very little iron lost in routine metabolism
 Iron Scavenging
• Intravascular haemolysis
• Breakdown of red cells in the circulation
– Free haemoglobin binds haptoglobins -> taken
up by liver
– Free haem binds haemopexin -> taken up by
liver
– Haem passing through kidney resorbed
– Three mechanisms to conserve iron in
pathological situations
• Historically iron deficiency is the disease we
have evolved to avoid.
 Iron Loss
• An unregulated process
• No mechanisms to up- or down-regulate iron loss
from the body
• Over-intake cannot be matched by increased loss
• Under intake cannot be matched by decreased
loss

• Thus iron homeostasis is regulated by adjusting

iron intake
 Principle
• In homeostasis - intake of any element equals
loss of any element
– nitrogen, water, salt, iron

• In “steady state” intake must balance loss.

• Even slight imbalances over time can create

excesses or deficiencies.
• 1% excess per day doubles content 70 days.
 Iron Absorption
• 1 – 2 mg iron are absorbed each day
• (in iron balance 1 – 2 mg iron leaves the body
each day)
• Occurs in the duodenum
• Taken up as ionic iron or haem iron
• Only 10% of dietary iron absorbed
• Dietary iron usually in excess
– either not absorbed, or kept in enterocytes and
shed into the gut
 Haem iron absorption
• Haem split from globin in intestine
• Absorbed into enterocyte as haem
• Iron freed into enterocyte pool or absorbed
intact
• Accounts for over half of iron in western diet
but much less in other diets
• Not well understood
 Iron Absorption
• DcytB
– Reduction Fe+++ to Fe++
• DMT1
– Transport into cell
• Ferritin
– Storage in cell
• Hephaestin
– Oxidises Fe++ to Fe+++
• Ferroportin
– Transport out
 Principles
• For any metabolic process there is a pathway
(which is usually complex).

• For any pathway there will be a regulatory

process (which may also be complex).

• Often diseases are due to changes in the

regulation of a pathway, not due to defects in
the pathway itself.
 Iron absorption regulation
• Increased
– Low dietary iron
– Low body iron stores
– Increased red cell production
– Low haemoglobin
– Low blood oxygen content
• Decreased
– Systemic inflammation
 Increased Iron Uptake
• Low dietary iron
• Leads to increased activity of:
– DCytB and DMT1
• Caused by local factors in gut
 Increased Iron Uptake
• Signal from body to gut in response to
increased needs
• Hepcidin
– Increased levels decrease iron absorption
– Low levels increase iron absorption
 Hepcidin
• 25 aa peptide
• Identified 2000
• Antimicrobial activity
• Hepatic bacteriocidal protein
• Master iron regulatory hormone
• Inactivates ferroportin
– Stops iron getting out of gut cells
– Iron lost in stool when gut cells shed
• Leads to decreased gut iron absorption
 Iron absorption regulation
• Increased
– Low dietary iron
– Low body iron stores *
– Increased red cell production *
– Low haemoglobin *
– Low blood oxygen content *
* lead to decreased hepcidin production
• Decreased
– Systemic inflammation #
– # leads to increased hepcidin production
The liver and iron metabolism
• Hepcidin production by the liver controls gut
iron absorption and therefore body iron
stores
• HFE and haemojuvelin involved in hepcidin
regulation
 Iron Release from cells
• Ferroportin present on cell surface to release
iron
• Found on gut cells, liver cells and
macrophages
• Requires cofactor to oxidise iron to allow for
binding to transferrin
– Hephaestin in gut
– Caeruloplasmin in other cells
• Hepcidin blocks iron release from all cells
• A possible mechanism for anaemia of chronic
disease
 Iron Deficiency
• Extremely common
• Due to reduced intake, increased loss or
increased demands
• Stores reduced before deficiency seen
• Iron deficiency is not a diagnosis
– A cause needs to be identified!
– Eg obstetric causes, low intake, malabsorption,
bowel cancer, haemorrhoids, inflammatory
bowel disease
 Iron Deficiency
• Laboratory changes:
– Low iron (poor specificity)
– Low ferritin (excellent specificity)
– Elevated Transferrin (TIBC)
– Low transferrin saturation
– Hypochromia, microcytosis
– Anaemia
• Stages
– Reduced iron stores
– Iron deficient erythropoiesis
– Iron deficient anaemia
 Anaemia of chronic disease
• Infection, inflammation, malignancy
• Low iron absorption
• Low serum iron
• Stainable iron stores in RE cells
• Hepcidin is an acute phase protein
• Increased hepcidin
– blocks iron in gut cells
– Traps iron in macrophages and liver cells
• Produces a functional iron deficiency
– Not responsive to iron therapy
 Anaemia of chronic disease
• Hard to separate from iron deficiency
anaemia
• May co-exist
• Ferritin: low with pure iron deficiency but
increased with acute phase response
• Iron: low in both conditions
• Transferrin: high in pure iron deficiency but
decreased with acute phase response
 Genetic haemochromatosis
• Iron overload disease
• Caused by increased iron absorption
• Known since 1700s
• May affect liver, pancreas, skin, heart, joints,
endocrine organs (bronze diabetes)
• Gradual accumulation of iron over the life of
the person (positive iron balance)
– Iron overload detectable in teens and 20s
– Organ overload in 30s
– Organ damage in 40s and 50s
• Cirrhosis and liver disease main cause of
increased mortality
 Genetic Haemochromatosis
• >95% defect in HFE gene (C282Y)
• Associated with low hepcidin
• Leads to overactivity of ferroportin
– Increased gut absorption of iron
• Also other mechanisms
– Increased DMT1 and DcytB activity
– Not related to hepcidin
• Limited penetrance (1 – 50%)
– May require other genes to be involved
 Observation

• “We’ve found the genetic defect!!”

• “We’ve found 10 genetic defects!”
• “We’ve found 100’s of genetic defects”

• Genetic understanding hugely increases our

understanding of disease
but
• Genetic testing rarely simplifies our diagnostic
testing but may improve testing in right
circumstances
 Genetic Haemochromatosis

HFE-Related
• Type 1 – HFE defects

Non HFE Related

• Type 2a – Haemojuvelin defects
• Type 2b – Hepcidin defects
• Type 3 – Transferrin receptor defects
• Type 4 – Ferroportin defects
 Other tests related to iron status
• Haemoglobin
– Low with iron deficiency, anaemia of chronic
disease
• Mean Cell Volume
– Low with iron deficiency, thallassaemia
• Liver iron
– High with iron overload
– Better marker for GH when corrected for age
– (Hepatic iron index)
• Bone marrow iron
– Low with iron deficiency
 Future possibilities
• Treatment with hepcidin for iron overload
• Blocking of hepcidin for anaemia of chronic
disease
• Diagnostic tests based on hepcidin
 Conclusions
• Iron related diseases are common and
clinically important
• Recent advances have changed our
understanding
• Groups of tests “Iron studies” are the best first
line investigation
• New tests and therapies will follow the new
understandings.
 Reading
• Andrews NC. Medical Progress: disorders of
iron metabolism. NEJM 1999;341:1986-95
• Pietrangelo A. haemochromatosis – a new
look at an old disease. NEJM 2004;350:2383-
97.
• Weiss G, Goodnough LT. Medical Progress:
Anaemia of chronic disease. NEJM
2005;352:1011-1023
• Fleming RE, Bacon BR. Orchestration of iron
homeostasis. NEJM 2005;352:1741-4