staticnrg Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 UCLA And Biotech Company Develop First Blood Test To Measure Key Hormone That Regulates Iron Main Category: Endocrinology Also Included In: Blood / Hematology Article Date: 10 Aug 2008 - 1:00 PDT UCLA and Intrinsic LifeSciences, a San Diego biotech company, developed the first method to measure the hormone, hepcidin, which regulates the absorption of dietary iron and its distribution in the body. This new blood test will help clinicians manage chronic conditions affecting millions of people worldwide such as anemias and iron overload diseases. The new test will measure the amount of hepcidin in the blood. When levels of the hormone are too high, the availability of iron is blocked, leading to conditions like anemia of chronic disease. When levels are low, too much iron is absorbed from the diet and released into the blood, leading to iron toxicity and conditions like hemochromatosis or iron overload disease. The current tests do not measure hepcidin but instead measure some of its direct and indirect effects on iron and the iron-binding proteins transferrin and ferritin. The new blood test will directly measure hepcidin, offering more information to clinicians to help diagnose conditions and monitor the levels of this important hormone in their patients -- leading to more efficient management of these chronic diseases. Funded by Intrinsic LifeSciences, LLC. AUTHORS: Dr. Tomas Ganz, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Mark Westerman, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Intrinsic LifeSciences, LLC, are available for interviews. Dr. Ganz is also a co-founder of the company. The research appears in the Aug. 8 online edition of the peer-reviewed journal Blood http://healthsciences.ucla.edu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chanceofrain Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 This is great!! I would love to know why I can never get my ferritin up to a normal level no matter how much iron I take. Thanks for posting this. I bet Dr. F will be interested in this info too. See there are some pretty smart people here in San Diego :-) Jaimie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member of the 1000 Post Club SherryC Posted September 4, 2008 Member of the 1000 Post Club Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 I have had trouble bringing my ferriten up too. Even on Iron it dropped. I will be coureous to see if it goes up now that I am not bleeding everyday due to my TAH. Robin thanks for this info. Maybe if my ferriten does not go up they can test this hormone. Hugs SherryC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staticnrg Posted September 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 Dr.F needs to volunteer us as guinea pigs! LOL!! I bet he already knows about it. Hugs, Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 2000 Posts da89165 Posted September 5, 2008 Over 2000 Posts Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 I've been needing this answer for a long time. I'm taking 15 of those Iron Sorb capsules for over 6 months and still have my ferritin drop drastically. I guess now all we need to know is how we can raise or lower our hepcidin levels!!!! When somethings wrong and you can't figure it out.......there's usually a hormone to blame! Thanks ROBIN!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 2000 Posts alexsmom Posted September 6, 2008 Over 2000 Posts Report Share Posted September 6, 2008 Thanks Robin, Alex's ferritin won't budge over 10 no matter how much iron we give her. Rene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mertie Posted September 6, 2008 Report Share Posted September 6, 2008 I have the same issue. Ferritin is always low, regardless of how I supplement it. Great article, Robin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCF Posted September 6, 2008 Report Share Posted September 6, 2008 Robin, you should email this article to Dr. F. He probably knows it, but he has his hands in so many research areas that he may have missed it, too, and he's so concerned about ferritin levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 2000 Posts da89165 Posted September 7, 2008 Over 2000 Posts Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 Now we just need to figure out how to lower that bugger of a hormone!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staticnrg Posted September 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 I did get the full article and send it on to Dr. F, plus I found more. I've just updated my delicious site(Click me) with more info, and the new ones are listed below. The hepcidin articles are included. Remember, you can make your own delicious site and bookmark anything I have on mine that you want to keep for you. It's a great tool, and makes it easy to find info. I keep this updated FOR ALL OF YOU so that you can research and look up things ANYTIME. Use the "tags" to find information. The link to it is always in my signature. Hugs and love! Robin hepcidin_STAT3_mediation.pdf Hepcidin_regulation2.pdf hepcidin_regulation_by_Iron_Transferrin.pdf hepcidin_immunoassay_for_human_serum.pdf UFC_Undetectable_in_Cushings.pdf Surgeon_Choice_Pit.pdf PitStalkLesions.pdf PediatricCushingsWorkup.pdf MacroadenomaTreatment.pdf ImagingNeuroendocrineAdvances.pdf hepcidin_regulation.pdf Epilepsy_Viceral.pdf CyclicCush_ClinChallenge.pdf autonomic_auras.pdf NiemansArticle.pdf LimitationsUFC_SC_mildCush.pdf GHDefAdult.pdf EctopicSource_20yearsAfterBLA.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCF Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Robin, you are AMAZING, thanks so much for all your resourcefulness and sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over 2000 Posts gumdrop Posted September 8, 2008 Over 2000 Posts Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 Thanks for sharing this. I can't wait to hear what Dr F has to say about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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