Survey of the Status of Iron and Sclerostin in Major Thalassemia Patients

Background and Aims: Thalassemia is one the most prevalent genetic anemia in the world; homozygote patients usually suffer from severe disturbances. Osteopenia and osteoporosis are of various types of thalassemia complications which increase in rate in patients with iron overload conditions. Sclerostin is a protein which enhances bone loss by inhibiting osteoblasts. The aim of this study was to measure sclerostin protein and its association with iron overload in major thalassemia patients. Materials and Methods: Forty patients with major betaThalassemia and 40 healthy control individuals were includedin the study; Sclerostin protein and ferritin were evaluated using enzymelinked immunosorbent assay method. Results: Mean sclerostin protein was 100.7 pg/ml, in the case group; it was 143.1 pg/ml in the control group.There was a significant differences between sclerostin protein in case and control groups (p= 0.01). The association of sclerostin and ferritin was not significant in the case group (p= 0.7), while it was meaningful in the control individuals (p= 0.04). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that sclerostin protein can play an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.