title: Levels of growth differentiation factor-15 are high and correlate with clinical severity in transfusion-independent patients with β thalassemia intermedia.
abstract: Transfusion-independent patients with β thalassemia intermedia (TI) experience a variety of clinical complications attributed to the underlying ineffective erythropoiesis and subsequent anemia, hemolysis, and iron overload. Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) was recently investigated as a marker of ineffective erythropoiesis in several anemias. In this work, we evaluated GDF-15 levels in 55 patients with TI. The mean GDF-15 level was 25,197.8±16,208.9pg/ml which is lower than values reported for patients with thalassemia major, yet considerably higher than those reported in patients with other congenital and acquired anemias. GDF-15 levels were significantly higher in splenectomized compared to non-splenectomized patients and correlated with anemia, markers of iron overload, and a pre-defined clinical severity score. Further studies are needed to determine the practical utility of GDF-15 measurement and its potential to reflect the severity of the clinical course in TI patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Khaled M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Musallam
authors.forename: Ali T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Taher
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duca
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cesaretti
authors.forename: Racha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Halawi
authors.forename: Maria Domenica
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Cappellini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D055436:Growth Differentiation Factor 15 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult; D017086:beta-Thalassemia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D055436:Growth Differentiation Factor 15