Anemia describes a collection of disorders in which you either have fewer red blood cells than normal, or your red blood cells have less hemoglobin than normal. Hemoglobin is a blood protein that transports oxygen throughout your body. Decreased blood oxygen levels lead to symptoms such as weakness and fatigue, headache, dizzy spells, numbness in your extremities and shortness of breath. Anemia has many causes and might be easily curable or a sign of serious illness. Several proteins play a role in the cause or treatment of different kinds of anemia.
Types of Anemia
Iron-deficiency anemia, a common type of anemia, results from too little iron in your system due to low dietary iron intake, iron absorption problems, bleeding disorders, certain infections or cancer. Some diseases, such as kidney disease, might lead to anemia, which might also occur in the presence of a vitamin B-12 deficiency. Additionally, the inherited blood diseases sickle cell anemia, all impact the health of your red blood cells and their oxygen-carrying capacity.
Erythropoietin
Your kidneys manufacture a protein hormone called erythropoietin, or EPO, which sends a signal to your bone marrow to produce red blood cells. If you have kidney disease, however, your kidneys are unable to synthesize enough EPO to keep your blood well supplied with red blood cells. As a complicating factor, a certain amount of iron is lost during dialysis, a process some kidney-impaired patients must undergo to remove waste from the bloodstream. Treatment with EPO injections might help relieve anemia caused by kidney disease, says the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Intrinsic Factor
Instrinsic factor is a protein synthesized by your digestive system that allows your body to absorb vitamin B-12. Your body requires this vitamin during the formation of red blood cells, and a deficiency might lead to a type of anemia called pernicious anemia. Lack of intrinsic factor is an autoimmune disorder in which antibodies attack the cells that produce this protein, explains the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. The treatment for anemia caused by a lack of intrinsic factor is supplementation with vitamin B-12, either in pill form or with injections.
Transferrin
If you suffer from thalassemia or certain other types of serious anemias in which your red blood cells are formed improperly, you might require a series of blood transfusions to deal with your disease, says Dr. Mary Fabry in the January 2010 issue of "Science Daily." These transfusions might lead to excessive iron levels that accumulate dangerously in your liver and heart. Fabry describes a study in which mice with thalassemia received injections of the blood protein transferrin, which not only depleted excess toxic iron stores from the mice, but also infused defective iron-depleted red blood cells with new iron. Further study needs to be done before these results can be translated to humans, however.
