Iron Metabolism and Oxidative Status in Patients with Hb H Disease

Abstract

To evaluate the iron metabolism and oxidative status in patients with Hb H disease, we investigated 43 patients with Hb H disease, including eight deletional Hb H disease patients and 35 nondeletional Hb H disease patients and 20 healthy controls. The levels of hematological parameters, serum ferritin, hepcidin, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC), were examined. We found higher serum ferritin levels and lower hepcidin, MDA and TAC levels in Hb H disease patients than in controls. The hepcidin level in Hb H disease patients was positively correlated with MDA and TAC levels but not with serum ferritin and SOD levels. The patients with nondeletional Hb H disease showed higher serum ferritin and Hb H concentrations than those patients with deletional Hb H disease. However, no statistically significant differences in SOD, MDA and TAC levels were found in patients with deletional and nondeletional Hb H disease. Oxidative stress and antioxidant defense were related to hepcidin levels. Our study indicated that hepcidin might be an important parameter for monitoring the iron metabolism and oxidative status of Hb H disease patients.

Keywords:

• α-Thalassemia (α-thal)
• iron metabolism
• oxidative status

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the participants in the study. Authors’ contributions: X. Yao and L-H. Xu wrote the draft; L-H. Xu and J-P. Fang proposed and designed the study, and X. Yao, L-H. Xu, H-G. Xu, X-Y. Li and Y. Liu collected the clinical data. X. Yao, L-H. Xu and J-P. Fang analyzed the data.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81370603], grants [2017A020215019] and [2018A030313680] from the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China. This study was also supported by a scholarship [201806385032] from the China Scholarship Council.