Assessment of iron status with a new fully automated assay for transferrinreceptor in human serum

Serum transferrin receptor is considered as a reliable marker of iron statu s particularly when iron deficiency is associated with chronic disorders su ch as inflammation, infection or malignancy. The present study aims to illu strate the performances of a new fully automated assay using immunonephelom etry. The intra and between-assay precision was found to be very good (CVs < 4%). In healthy subjects there was no statistically significant differenc e between men and women. With a cut-off of 1.76 mg/l for diagnosing iron de ficiency either alone or combined with anemia of chronic diseases, the sens itivity and specificity were respectively 82% and 96.8%. Unlike conventiona l biochemical and hematological tests, soluble transferrin receptor was una ffected by confounding pathologies. In genetic hemochromatosis the concentr ation of soluble transferrin receptor was mostly decreased due to the regul atory effect of iron intracellular revel. Our study confirms the reliabilit y of soluble transferrin receptor for the assessment of iron status. It is now possible to assay soluble transferrin receptor, ferritin and transferri n on the same apparatus within 15 minutes.