Iron- and Copper-Binding Metalloproteins of Blood Plasma: Biological Significance, Clinical, Diagnostic and Pharmaceeutical Aspects

Abstract

Currently, about 200 human blood plasma proteins are well known and characterized. Among them, transferrin or siderophylline (TP) plays an extremely important role as a regulator of the metabolism of one of the most important essential trace elements -iron in the body. Although in the total pool of plasma proteins TF belongs to the so-called minor proteins (i.e. its total content in blood plasma does not exceed 1%), the biological significance of this protein in iron metabolism in the body is much higher than its quantitative content in blood plasma.