Haptoglobin is a plasma protein that your liver produces. It combines with hemoglobin, which transports oxygen to your organs and tissues via the red blood cells.
When red blood cells are broken down in the body, the hemoglobin is released. That’s when haptoglobin protein combines with it. Once the haptoglobin gets to the liver, it’s detoxified by macrophage cells.
Your body tries to keep a balance between the number of red blood cells that are being produced and destroyed. It the scale is tipped in favor of more red blood cells being destroyed, then haptoglobin levels drop because they are being detoxified faster than they are made in the liver. More red blood cells are destroyed than made when someone has hemolytic anemia.
The symptoms of this type of anemia include:
- Cold hands and feet
- Severe fatigue
- Shortness of breath even when walking up stairs
- Abnormal heart rate
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Pain in the abdomen
- Yellowed whites of eyes
Normal Ranges for Haptaglobin in mg/dL:
Adults: 30-200 mg/dL (Adult levels are seen in babies 4 to 6 months old.)
Sources:
Low haptoglobin levels is considered normal for babies in the first six months of life.
Otherwise, low levels of haptoglobin are associated with any of the following:
- Hemolytic anemia
- A hereditary condition called spherocytosis
- Disorders of the spleen
- Liver disease such as cirrhosis
- Bone marrow diseases that interfere with the production of red blood cells
- Transfusion reactions
- Pregnancy
- Regular exercise
- Burns
- Infancy
- 1% of whites and 4-10% of blacks do not make haptoglobin
- Megaloblastic anemia
- Thalassemia
High levels of haptoglobin are associated with:
- Removal of the spleen
- Infection
- Inflammation
- Hepatitis
- Amyloidosis
- Leukemia
- Collagen diseases
- Lymphoma
- Obstruction of the gall bladder
- Aplastic anemia
- Diabetes
- Smoking
- High levels of estrogen
- Nephrotic syndrome
- Use of steroids
$79 per year
$6.60 per month billed annually
Use promocode
$15 per month
$79 per year
$250 single payment
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place.
Learn More
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
Alpha-1-Antitrypsin, Serum, Ammonia, Angiotensin-1-Converting Enzyme, Beta-2 Glycoprotein I Ab, IgA, Bicarbonate (HCO3), Serum, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), D-Dimer, Factor IX Activity, Factor VII Activity, Factor VIII Activity, Factor X Activity, Factor XI Activity, Ferritin, Ferritin (female range), Fibrinogen Activity, Fibrinogen Antigen, Haptoglobin, Iron, IRON (Serum), Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH), Large Unstained Cells (LUC), Large Unstained Cells (Percent), Magnesium, RBC, Nucleated red blood cell (NRBC), Plateletcrit (PCT), Reticulocyte Count, Thrombocytes, Total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), Transferrin, Transferrin saturation (Iron Saturation), UIBC
