Heme Scavenging and Delivery: The Role of Human Serum Albumin.

ABSTRACT: Heme is the reactive center of several metal-based proteins that are involved in multiple biological processes. However, free heme, defined as the labile heme pool, has toxic properties that are derived from its hydrophobic nature and the Fe-atom. Therefore, the heme concentration must be tightly controlled to maintain cellular homeostasis and to avoid pathological conditions. Therefore, different systems have been developed to scavenge either Hb (i.e., haptoglobin (Hp)) or the free heme (i.e., high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), hemopexin (Hx), and human serum albumin (HSA)). In the first seconds after heme appearance in the plasma, more than 80% of the heme binds to HDL and LDL, and only the remaining 20% binds to Hx and HSA. Then, HSA slowly removes most of

SUBMITTER: De Simone G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10046553 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature