What is a haptoglobin (HP) exam?
This exam actions the amount of haptoglobin in the blood. Haptoglobin is a protein manufactured by your liver. It attaches to a sure type of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is a protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to the relaxation of your physique. Most hemoglobin is found inside red blood cells, but little quantities flow into in the bloodstream. Haptoglobin binds to hemoglobin in the bloodstream. Collectively, the two proteins are known as the haptoglobin-hemoglobin sophisticated. This sophisticated is quickly cleared from the bloodstream and eliminated from the physique by your liver.
When red blood cells are weakened, they release much more hemoglobin into the bloodstream. That indicates much more of the haptoglobin-hemoglobin sophisticated will be cleared from the physique. The haptoglobin may perhaps go away the physique quicker than the liver can make it. This causes your haptoglobin blood degrees to fall. If your haptoglobin degrees are much too very low, it may perhaps be a signal of a dysfunction of the red blood cells, these types of as anemia.
Other names: hemoglobin-binding protein, HPT, Hp