Up until recently doctors/researchers were unaware.. 'technically' .. they had no 'proper' test to discern the 'amount' of iron the bodies iron carrying proteins could carry .. safely.

This test.. only a year old has now found the transferrin.. the iron carrying protein begins to 'leak' its cargo .. iron .. when it gets .. too full.

This article speaks to the finding of the transferrin beginning to leak and spill its cargo .. iron .. when the saturation is only 35% instead of the 100% they pretty much have figured up until now.

An analogy. The bus carries 100 people but can only carry 35 .. safely.

J Hepatol 2000 May;32(5):727-33 Determination of non-transferrin-bound iron in genetic hemochromatosis using a new HPLC-based method.

Loreal O, Gosriwatana I, Guyader D, Porter J, Brissot P, Hider RC INSERM U522, CHR Pontchaillou, Rennes, France.

[Medline record in process]

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Non-transferrin-bound iron may play a major pathogenic role in iron overload diseases due to its high hepatic uptake and potential damaging effect.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relevance of measuring serum non-transferrin-bound iron levels in genetic hemochromatosis using a new high performance liquid chromatography-based method.

METHODS: This method includes a presaturation step of transferrin with cobalt(II) in order to avoid secondary deplacement of non-transferrin-bound iron toward transferrin during the assay.

Six genetic hemochromatotic patients were followed serially during venesection treatment.

RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS:

The results indicate:

(i) that this new method permits detection of non-transferrin-bound iron when transferrin is not fully saturated,

(ii) that non-transferrin-bound iron levels persist almost until the completion of treatment,

(iii) that non-transferrin-bound iron levels are well correlated with transferrin saturation for a given patient, and

(iv) that despite some individual variations, a transferrin saturation value lower than 35% usually corresponds to the disappearance of non-transferrin-bound iron.

PMID: 10845658, UI: 20302281