controlling iron metabolism tagged posts

Borna Mehrad, MBBS (left), and Kathryn Michels, both of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, have identified a hormone that helps the body fight off the spread of bacterial pneumonia. The discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients.

A hormone responsible for controlling iron metabolism helps fight off a severe form of bacterial pneumonia, and that discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients. Hepcidin, is produced in the liver and limits the spread of the bacteria by hiding the iron in the blood that the bacteria need to survive and grow. Stimulating hepcidin production in patients who do not produce it well, such as people with iron overload or liver disease, may help their bodies effectively starve the bacteria to death...