Plasma Transferrin Levels in Abnormal Endocrine States.

Summary

The clinical significance of the measurement of plasma transferrin (Tf) in patients with hypophysial disorders was reported in our previous paper. In the present study, we determined plasma Tf levels in 55 patients with various endocrine states and considered their clinical significance compared with plasma somatomedin-C (SM-C) levels.

Plasma Tf levels decreased significantly in patients with anorexia nervosa (P < 0.02), hyperthyroidism (P < 0.05), primary hypothyroidism (P < 0.05), and Cushing's syndrome (P < 0.05), while they were elevated significantly in pregnancy (P < 0.01) or females using estrogens (P < 0.05). The former two declines were considered a reflection of the malnutritional state since a significant negative correlation was observed between plasma Tf levels and the percentile deficit from the ideal body weight in patients with anorexia nervosa (P < 0.01), or between plasma Tf and elevated T₃ levels which induce hypermetabolism in patients with hyperthyroidism (P < 0.01). A significant correlation was observed between the SM-C and Tf levels in these subjects (including normal controls and patients with hypophysial disorders) as a whole (r = 0.79, P < 0.001). These data indicate that plasma Tf is changeable according to the endocrine and nutritional conditions with good correlation to the SM-C, and it is suggested that Tf also operates as a growth factor in vivo.

Key words

Transferrin - Growth Factor - Somatomedin-C - Endocrine Disorder - Anorexia Nervosa - Hyperthyroidism