Modulating iron metabolism in anemia of inflammation in the critically ill

On 18 December 2019 (14:00) Margit Boshuizen will defend her PhD thesis at the University of Amsterdam, titled 'Modulating iron metabolism in anemia of inflammation in the critically ill'. 

This thesis extends our knowledge on iron metabolism in anemia of inflammation (AI) in the critically ill. It shows that AI may be a separate entity, that occurs already prior to the development of anemia and that AI may be diagnosed with commonly available iron parameter tests. This provides us a window of opportunity to treat AI before the anemia arises.

We show that red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is not favourable to iron metabolism. Furthermore, this thesis contributes to our insight of the applications of transferrin. We show that an alternative treatment with the use of transferrin is not effective in reducing the occurrence of anemia in AI but may serve as a factor to limit non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI)-induced inflammation. Also, we develop a relevant AI model in which other treatments can be evaluated.

Promotores: Prof Nicole Juffermans MD PhD and Prof Marcus Schultz MD PhD
Copromotor: Robin van Bruggen PhD

Venue: Agnietenkapel, University of Amsterdam