Expected value of serum soluble transferrin receptor, erythropoietin and ferritin and their correlation among healthy non-anemic Thai children.

Transferrin receptor (TfR) is a glycoprotein which mediates the entry of ferric transferrin from the extracellular compartment into the cells. The measurement of sTfR has become a widely used tool in assessing erythropoiesis but its use has mainly been restricted to research laboratory settings. In Thailand, there are only a few reports concerning the sTfR. The authors studied the expected value of sTFR as well as other basic parameters for monitoring of erythropoiesis as erythropoietin (EPO) and ferritin among a sample of non-anemic healthy Thai children. In addition, correlation was done between each pair of studied parameters. Expected range for sTfR level for the healthy controls in this study was 1.761 to 2.034 mg/L. Expected range for serum EPO level for the healthy controls in this study was 19.445 to 34.176 mU/ml. Expected range for serum ferritin level for the healthy control from this study was 67.895 to 96.692 ng/ml. Of interest, poor correlation among the three studied parameters, sTfR, serum EPO and serum ferritin was observed in this study.