title: Iron metabolism in neuromyelitis optica patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was any relationship between iron metabolism and clinical features of NMO patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured serum iron, ferritin, and transferrin levels in 25 patients with NMO and 25 controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients with NMO had significantly decreased serum iron and increased serum ferritin (P=0.001 and 0.002, respectively), both of which were in normal ranges. The serum iron level of NMO patients was not correlated with disease duration, relapse number, or magnetic resonance imaging lesions. After multivariate linear regression analysis, the serum iron level was correlated with age (P=0.003) but not EDSS score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The iron metabolism might reflect the chronic oxidative injury in NMO patients. It is still unclear whether iron metabolism is implicated in the pathogenesis of NMO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China; Department of Neurology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 52 Meihuadong Road, Zhuhai City, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infection, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 52 Meihuadong Road, Zhuhai City, China.
authors.forename: Zhongsi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Sha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Yinyao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Yanqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Shaoyang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou City, China. Electronic address: lzq1828@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhengqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood*; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009471:Neuromyelitis Optica / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology*; D014168:Transferrin / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D014168:Transferrin; D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron
keywords: clinical feature; ferritin; iron; neuromyelitis optica; oxidative injury; transferrin