UCI Scientists Win Blood Study Funds

Researchers at UC Irvine’s College of Medicine have received a $4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to study a potentially fatal blood disorder caused by too much iron in the body.

The grant, announced Tuesday, will be used to create a center for study of the disorder, hemochromatosis, which may affect as many as 1.5 million white Americans and be among the most common inherited diseases in the world, researchers said.

The study will focus on iron overload among white people, but also will examine whether it occurs among African Americans, Asians and Latinos. Two professors--Christine McLaren, a professor of epidemiology, and her husband, Gordon, a professor of hematology and oncology, --will lead a team of dozens of researchers in what is expected to be a five-year study.

“Hemochromatosis is assumed to occur most often in Caucasians, but few studies have been conducted to see how many genetically susceptible people actually get the disease,” Christine McLaren said. “We need to see how often it occurs among the other groups we’ll be studying.”

Gordon McLaren added: “This study will help us develop a complete picture of how the genes for hemochromatosis are distributed among all Americans, and whether we need to target certain areas for screening.”

Hemochromatosis is caused by a gene mutation that controls how the body absorbs iron.

If detected early, most hemochromatosis cases can be treated successfully, researchers said.