Expression of RNAs Coding for Metal Transporters in Blood of Patients with Huntington’s Disease

Recent studies have demonstrated elevated levels of iron (Fe) in brains of patients with Huntington’s disease (HD). Striatal cells carrying mutated Huntingtin presented increased sensitivity to cadmium (Cd) toxicity, decreased sensitivity to manganese (Mn) toxicity and deficits in Mn uptake. The hypothesis arose that the observed alterations result from the altered expression and/or activity of proteins engaged in the transport of these metals, that is: transferrin (TF), transferrin receptor (TFR), divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) and ZIP8 protein. Here we examined the expression levels of genes encoding these proteins in blood of HD patients and control subjects. A decreasing tendency in the level of TF transcript and increasing tendency of SLC11A2 mRNA encoding DMT1 was observed in the blood of HD patients compared to the control subjects, but neither attained statistical significance. No changes were found in the levels of TFRC coding for TFR and SLC39A8 coding for ZIP8 between HD patients and controls. The results indicate that HD-associated changes in metal homeostasis occur are not related to mechanisms other than the expression level of the here analyzed metal transporters.