Study bloodless worms to treat iron deficiency

Based on a nearly bloodless worm, researchers at the University of Maryland have discovered an important clue about how iron in human blood can be absorbed and transported into the body. This discovery could lead to new ways to reduce iron deficiency - the world's No. 1 nutritional disorder.

Iqbal Hamza, assistant professor of bird and animal science, and his team using C. elegans , an earthworm, identified proteins, which were previously unknown. plays an essential role in transporting heme, blood hemoglobin-producing molecules and transporting iron. This is an important step in understanding how the body processes iron. The results were published in the April 16 online edition of Nature.

"The hemoglobin structure is repeatedly crystallized," says Hamza, " but no one knows how heme gets into globin or how humans absorb iron in the form of heme. " Of the genetic and nutritional causes of iron deficiency, we are working with molecules and mechanisms involved in heme absorption. Once we understand heme transport, we can help the body absorb iron better through the intestine. "

Heme is a molecule that is critical to the health of all eukaryotes , organisms that hold cells into complex structures within the membrane. Eukaryotes include species from humans to men. Heme makes blood red and binds with oxygen or other gases that are needed for our lives.

Heme is formed inside the mitochondria, then moved by the pathways connecting other cells, where they are synthesized to make blood. However, heme itself is a poison.'We want to find out how heme is transported inside cells and between cells.'

Creating heme requires eight steps, making it difficult to find a way to find a way to control heme transport. Hamza discovered this when he first surveyed bacteria and mice.

So Hamza chose another non-emotional audience. He chose to experiment on a species that does not produce heme, but desperately needs it to survive. This species doesn't even have blood, but shares some genes with humans. These are C. elegans, a simple round-bodied worm.

C. elegans produces heme by eating bacteria in the soil where they live . 'C. The elegans consume heme and transport them into the intestine. So now we have an excellent valve that can control the amount of heme that animals see and digest through its food. '

C. elegans's heme transport study has many benefits. Hamza's group can control the amount of heme the worms eat. Only one valve controls the transport of heme, the scientists know exactly where the heme enters the worm's intestine and is absorbed in place, similar to humans. And C. elegans has a transparent body, so under the microscope, researchers can see the movement of heme when the worm is digested.

The work also offers several findings that could lead to new treatments for iron deficiency. One of those discoveries is the genes involved in heme transport. Hamza's team found that HRG-1 genes, which occur in both humans and C. elegans, are quite important for regulating heme transport in worms.

To test their findings in animals, the team isolated the HRG-1 gene in zebrafish. The fish then suffers from brain and bone sequelae, almost like congenital sequelae. Separation of this gene also causes severe anemia often due to iron deficiency.

When they replaced the zebrafish gene with the worm's HRG-1 gene, the fish returned to normal, indicating that fish and worm genes could be exchanged, unrelated to the ability of two species to heal.

They also found that too little or too much heme can kill C. elegans , which could help researchers find ways to treat people with iron deficiency caused by parasitic worms.

Hamza said 'More than two billion people have parasitic helminths. Hookworms consume a large amount of hemoglobin and heme from the host. If we can simultaneously understand how to transport heme in both humans and worms, we can take advantage of the gene that transports the gene to bring the drug into heme form to kill parasites without harming the host. '