title: Genetic hyperferritinaemia and reticuloendothelial iron overload associated with a three base pair deletion in the coding region of the ferroportin gene (SLC11A3).
abstract: Iron overload may predominantly involve parenchymal or reticuloendothelial cells, the prototype of parenchymal iron overload being HFE-related genetic haemochromatosis. We studied a family with autosomal dominant hyperferritinaemia in whom the proband showed selective iron accumulation in the Kupffer cells on liver biopsy. Analysis of L and H ferritin genes excluded mutations responsible for hereditary hyperferritinaemia/cataract syndrome or similar translational disorders. Sequence analysis of the ferroportin gene (SLC11A3) in four individuals with hyperferritinaemia singled out a three base pair deletion in a region that contains four TTG repeats. This mutation removes a TTG unit from 780 to 791, and predicts the loss of one of three sequential valine residues 160-162. Denaturing high performance liquid chromatography can be used for its detection. SLC11A3 polymorphism analysis indicates that this probably represents a recurrent mutation due to slippage mispairing. Affected individuals may show marginally low serum iron and transferrin saturation, and young women may have marginally low haemoglobin concentration levels. Serum ferritin levels are directly related to age, but are 10-20 times higher than normal. Heterozygosity for the ferroportin Val 162 deletion represents the prototype of selective reticuloendothelial iron overload, and should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of hereditary or congenital hyperferritinaemias.
authors.affiliation: Division of Haematology, University of Pavia Medical School, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, Pavia, Italy. mario.cazzola@unipv.it
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cazzola
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cremonesi
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Papaioannou
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Soriani
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kioumi
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Charalambidou
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paroni
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Romtsou
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arosio
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Christakis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D006579:Heterozygote; D006801:Humans; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D007728:Kupffer Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014168:Transferrin; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats
chemical_list: D014168:Transferrin; D005293:Ferritins