Talk:Ferritin

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What
What does it mean to have a high ferratin level of 430? tcr


 * It depends completely on the circumstances under which the test was performed. If it was done while inflammation was present, it may be part of the acute phase response. There are many other causes for hyperferritinaemia, e.g. haemochromatosis is marked by high ferritin.
 * Is there anything you're concerned about? JFW | T@lk  19:29, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Ferritin Iron
I was told my ferritin iron level is 3.8. What is the norman level for a 49 year old woman? Trenia


 * Provided the units are &mu;g/l, the lower limit of normal is about 10 if you are still menstruating and 25 if you are postmenopausal. Whoever gave you the result should have had the sense to tell you whether it was abnormal or not! JFW | T@lk  08:49, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

RE cells?
"Iron in ferritin or hemosiderin can be extracted for release by the RE cells although hemosiderin is less readily available." - What are RE cells? What does this sentence mean? --Dan|(talk) 10:54, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

RE cells are reticuloendothelial cells(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononuclear_phagocyte_system). Iron is exchanged between different tissues and compartments in the body. Iron can be taken from this type of cell and can be sent to other areas.Student User 4 (talk) 14:45, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Expert attention
This article appears to have been written by a lay person and contains confusing and misleading claims that need the attention of an expert. The diagnostic uses section needs particular attention, especially since it claims that iron is excreted from the blood into the stool. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.82.106.58 (talk) 15:36, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

The statement focused on above seems to have been deleted. Blood loss through stool IS a major cause of iron deficiency anemia, however. Also, the diagnoses currently focused on are all over the place. Ferritin is first and foremost for assessment of iron store status in anemia workups. It may or may not have relationships to restless legs and whatever else (not something they would teach about in med school), but 99% or more of the time, its ordered in an anemia workup setting... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.232.80.56 (talk) 14:43, 3 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm no expert but this article is clearly at odds here with the much more plausible explanations in Hemachromatosis according to which the organism has no normal and significant means (other than presumably menstruation for pre-menopausal adult women) to excrete iron once it has been absorbed. I'm also not sure about the preceding comment, as excess ferritin is clearly a diagnostic marker of hemachromatosis which is not by any means an insignificant condition.Fbunny (talk) 12:36, 10 March 2009 (UTC)


 * What's actually mind-boggling is the reference to a paper from 1990 as "evidence" for ferritin being the most sensitive marker of iron-deficiency. Whoever entered this confuses what he learned ages ago during his studies with the state of the art of diagnostics. Ferritin is exclusively a marker for storage iron deficiency, i.e. when ferritin is low then the patient clearly is iron-deficient. But ferritin being normal doesn't mean the patient does not suffer from iron deficiency anaemia - it says nothing about the iron actually being available for making red blood cells. Since markers measuring iron, or rather haemoglobinization of newly-created red blood cells (or rather reticulocytes) are available, there are more sensitive and more robust markers today. --213.209.110.45 (talk) 14:56, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

Might be useful article
Shi, H. F., K. Z. Bencze, et al. (2008). "A cytosolic iron chaperone that delivers iron to ferritin." Science 320(5880): 1207-1210. Ferritins are the main iron storage proteins found in animals, plants, and bacteria. The capacity to store iron in ferritin is essential for life in mammals, but the mechanism by which cytosolic iron is delivered to ferritin is unknown. Human ferritins expressed in yeast contain little iron. Human poly (rC)- binding protein 1 ( PCBP1) increased the amount of iron loaded into ferritin when expressed in yeast. PCBP1 bound to ferritin in vivo and bound iron and facilitated iron loading into ferritin in vitro. Depletion of PCBP1 in human cells inhibited ferritin iron loading and increased cytosolic iron pools. Thus, PCBP1 can function as a cytosolic iron chaperone in the delivery of iron to ferritin.

I'm not going to try to edit the article on PCBP1 but if anyone else is interested this article could be useful..... (jayoval, I know, I didn't log in, 21/9/08) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.208.80 (talk) 21:54, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

It ?
"Ferritin is a globular protein complex consisting of 24 protein subunits and is the main intracellular iron storage protein in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, keeping it in a soluble and non-toxic form." In this sentence what does "it" refer to ? The nearest singular noun is "protein". "iron-storage" is an adjectival phrase - one of a series of adjectives (including "main" and "intracellular") describing "protein". As written, the sentence therefore means "Ferritin is a protein complex... which keeps itself in a soluble and non-toxic form." — Preceding unsigned comment added by User:Fbunny, talk page here: at 12:36, 10 March 2009

Reference levels
The entry contains this statement: "Normal blood levels are 30-300 ng/mL for males and 20-200 ng/mL for females. ((according to clinical medicine by Kumar & Clark page 428))." I am looking at a LabCorp result from today which shows a normal range of 10-291 ng/mL. It also says that LabCorp will adopt the Roche ECLIA methodology on April 12, 2010, which has the following reference intervals: Males: 30-400 ng/mL  Females: 113-150 ng/mL. I am going to change the entry to reflect these real-life intervals by one of the world's largest clinical testing labs. Nicmart (talk) 15:23, 6 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually I won't make the change since it instigates yet another stupid Wiki-war, but there is no reason to accept Kumar and Clark and authoritative at this point, and the results for consumers will different reference ranges .Nicmart (talk) 15:55, 6 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Better to add, not subtract, e.g.,
 * All general published ranges are subject to what the particular testing lab provides, using the testing lab's particular methodology, as its range is for the particular test. Kumar & Clark publish general gender-specific ranges as 30-300 ng/mL for males and 20-200 ng/mL for females.  At LabCorp, a large testing lab, the range using ECLIA is Males: 30-400 ng/mL   Females: 113-150 ng/mL.  Other labs will vary in their normal range, but each lab's own normal range must be observed in interpreting the results from testing at that lab.

Suggest to rename "Diagnostic uses" as "Serum ferritin test"
Suggest to rename "Diagnostic uses" as "Serum ferritin test"

More specific for most people, and a better link for anemia articles.

Intracellular versus serum
As of today, the lede begins by calling ferritin an intracellular protein, but clearly ferritin is also a normal component of serum. Can someone please edit the lede to clarify? Quercus solaris (talk) 18:29, 3 February 2014 (UTC)
 * in this edit. I hope my description is accurate, please correct as necessary. Boghog (talk) 19:40, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Interpretation
.... of elevated level, from JAMA 10.1001/jama.2014.302 JFW &#124; T@lk  22:44, 19 August 2014 (UTC)

UK guideline
10.1111/bjh.15166 JFW &#124; T@lk  17:39, 24 April 2018 (UTC)

Does ferritin occur in Bacteria and Archaea?
Does ferritin occur in bacteria? and in archaea? If not, then is there any homolog or analog of ferritin in archaea and eubacteria? 2409:4060:2087:7461:0:0:22D5:10A5 (talk) 06:34, 23 November 2018 (UTC)