Iron - the bad guy in haemophilic chronic joint disease?
04 Apr 2005

Mutations in the HFE gene, which is involved in iron regulation, seem
to be directly associated with chronic joint disease (or haemophilic
arthropathy) among haemophilic patients, claim a team of Portuguese
scientists in the April issue of the journal Blood. The results, from a
small group of hemophilic patients, if confirmed in a larger
population, could have important implications, not only for the
treatment of haemophilic arthropathy but potentially also for other
arthritic diseases.

Haemophilia is a genetic bleeding disorder that affects an estimated
400,000 people worldwide, although among Caucasians, where is most
common, affects approximately 1 person in every 200. The defective
gene, which is localised in the X chromosome, is usually carried
through generations by women, which transmit it to their children.
Queen Victoria of England, probably the most famous female carrier of
haemophilia, is accounted for example to have spread the disease
throughout the European royal houses. The disease, characterised by
chronic bleeding, is caused by a deficiency in blood-clotting factors
and its severity correlates with the lack of the clotting factor -
individuals with very severe cases can present as little as 1% of the
normal levels.

The main cause of disability among haemophilic patients, however, is
chronic joint disease - arthropathy - that originates from exposure to
an unidentified blood component(s) as result of chronic bleeding into
the joints. But although all haemophilia patients suffer from bleeding
into the joints only some of them develop arthropathy and even among
these there is a wide range of disease severities. Haemophilic patients
also have changes in the tissues around the joints, which look very
similar to the changes observed in malignant tissues. This has led to
the proposal that, as in cancer, these changes are the result of
abnormal cell division and inhibition of cellular death. Interestingly,
iron can be found accumulated around the joints of these patients and
because this metal is known to stimulate cellular proliferation it was
suggested that iron might be involved in the alterations in the tissues
and consequently in haemophilic arthropathy. And in effect, recent work
has shown that iron can increase, in models of this disease, the
expression of genes involved in cancer induction and so is probably
involved in the tissue changes observed in haemophilic arthropathy
patients.

Eugenia Cruz, Manuel Campos, Graça Porto and colleagues from the
Hospital Geral de Santo Antonio and the Institute for Molecular and
Cell Biology (IBMC) at Porto, Portugal, in an attempt to further
understand the connection between iron and haemophilic arthropathy
decided to look at a gene involved in iron regulation -HFE - asking if
mutations and consequent malfunction of this gene would lead to changes
in the disease. HFE regulates the movement of iron into cells and when
mutated leads to cellular iron-overload which in time can result in
damage to tissues and organs such as the liver. Furthermore, it is
known that in HFE-mutated individuals, macrophages - a specialised cell
of the immune system that is also present in the joints of haemophilic
arthropathy patients - release much higher quantities of iron than
macrophages from normal individuals.

Cruz, Campos, Porto and colleagues analysed 34 haemophilic patients and
found that patients with a mutated HFE presented a much severer
haemophilic arthropathy. The team of scientists proposed that this
increase in disease severity was probably the result of a higher
quantity of iron in the blood together with an increased release from
macrophages directly into the joints of haemophilic HFE-mutated
individuals.

This observation is very important as, not only supports the hypothesis
that iron is involved in haemophilic arthropathy, but can also help
scientists to understand why different haemophilic patients, all with
chronic bleeding into the joints, can suffer from such a wide range of
disease severities.

Furthermore, the understanding of the connection between iron and
arthropathy could be extremely important also for other arthritic
illnesses. One such example is rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating
chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people around the
world - up to 1% of the population in certain regions - and which seems
to be also associated with alterations in iron accumulation in the
joint.

Piece researched and written by: Catarina Amorim
(catarina.amorim@linacre.ox.ac.uk)

Authors of the original paper
Eugenia Cruz (ecruz@ibmc.up.pt)
Maria de Sousa (mdesousa@ibmc.up.pt)

Reference URL
bloodjournal.org/cgi/content/full/105/8/3381?ct

SOURCE: http://www.alphagalileo.org


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Who loves ya.
Tom

Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com

Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore

DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking

What's your point, Tommah? Haemophilic patients with normal blood iron
levels have joint problems...so what? Obviously YOU still have iron in
your blood, Tommah, so you're obviously a little hypocrite. Come back
when you've gotten ALL of the iron out of your blood. Slashing your
wrists could speed this process.

"Mutations in the HFE gene, which is involved in iron regulation, seem to
be directly associated with chronic joint disease (or haemophilic
arthropathy) among haemophilic patients"

Interpretation, for a rare genetic disorder there is also a rare mutation
that has an effect in iron regulation that has no connection to 99 percent
of the world's population. This disorder clearly caused by a mutation is
also a clear example showing the iron causes all disease because people
eat meat idea a flop.. People with this disorder may or may not eat meat,
it makes no difference, it has nothing to do with the existance of the
disorder. To show the iron idea a flop one need only provide one counter
example, we have scores from which to choose but this one will do nicely
thank you.

It is a human model of arthritic .. disease ..

Doofus ..

arthropathy could be extremely important also for other arthritic
illnesses. One such example is rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating
chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people around the

world - up to 1% of the population in certain regions - and which seems

to be also associated with alterations in iron accumulation in the
joint.
<<

Who loves ya.
Tom


Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com


Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore


DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking

Why do you think the researchers believe it IS .. an .. IMPORTANT ..
finding .. ?

Oh yeah ..

Think .. ?

"Think .. what is .. think .. ?"

arthropathy could be extremely important also for other arthritic
illnesses. One such example is rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating
chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people around the

world - up to 1% of the population in certain regions - and which seems

to be also associated with alterations in iron accumulation in the
joint.
<<

Do you .. understand .. ?
Should I break it down a little more for the braindeads .. in the room
... ?

Who loves ya.
Tom


Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com


Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore


DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking

ironjustice@aol.com wrote:
Again, what's your point? Do you even have one, or are you too far gone
for that? Obviously you're still chock full of iron, why haven't you
removed the rest from your body?

"Why do you think the researchers believe it IS .. an .. IMPORTANT ..
finding .. ?"

Because even though this very rare disease and its equally rare mutation
affect only a few people doesn't exclude it from being researched.
Because people have the genetic disorder regardless if they eat meat or
not, it is an excellent counter example to the iron causes all disease
because people eat meat idea. Only one counter example is required to
disproove an idea. In science we turn from an idea when disproven and
look elsewhere for the truth.

Even if we expand to include from a very very rare genetic disorder to a
very rare genetic disorder, 99 percent of the world don't get it from
eating meat nor from iron. Another good example of a counter proof to the
iron causes all disease because people eat meat idea. When an idea is
disproven in science we turn from it to find the truth elsewhere.

"rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating
chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of people around the

world - up to 1% of the population in certain regions "

....with a lead brain and a tin heart.