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Inflammation associated anemia and ferritin as disease markers in systemic lupus erythematosus Full Text
Arthritis Research & Therapy, 08/08/2012
Clinical Article
Vanarsa K et al. – Urine ferritin and transferrin levels are elevated significantly in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and correlated with disease activity, bolstering previous reports in other ethnic groups. Most importantly, these changes correlated with the inflammatory state and anemia of chronic disease. Taken together, altered iron handling, inflammation, and anemia of chronic disease constitute an ominous triad in SLE.
Methods- A protein array was utilized to measure ferritin expression in the urine and serum of SLE patients and healthy controls.
- To confirm these results as well as the role of the iron transfer pathway in SLE, ELISAs were performed to measure ferritin and transferrin levels in inactive or active SLE patients and healthy controls.
- The relationship between ferritin/transferrin levels and inflammatory markers and anemia was next analyzed.
- Protein array results showed elevated ferritin levels in the serum and urine of lupus patients as compared to controls, which were further validated by ELISA.
- Increased ferritin levels correlated with measures of disease activity and anemia as well as inflammatory cytokine titers.
- Though active SLE patients had elevated urine transferrin, serum transferrin was reduced.