Heptacarboxyporphyrin

Optimal Result: 0 - 2.9 mcg/g creat.

Heptacarboxyporphyrin is a Porphyrin.

Porphyrins are precursors of heme and usually only occur in urine in negligible amounts.

However, disorders in heme biosynthesis lead to the syndrome of porphyria with increased formation and excretion of porphyrins. Porphyrias can be hereditary-related or acquired through exogenous influences such as alcohol consumption or lead poisoning. Different enzymes of the heme biosynthesis can be deficient, thus, several different porphyrias can be distinguished. Since these share some common symptoms, chromatographic measurement of the porphyrins is the only way to enable an exact diagnosis.

Porphyrias, which can be inherited or acquired, are often diagnosed with the aid of information regarding the distribution profile of individual porphyrin intermediates in urine. The term “porphyria” is derived from the Greek word porphyria, meaning “purple pigment”.

Porphyrins are particularly well suited as biomarkers for two reasons. First, the pathway is highly active, so any disturbance tends to cause rapid and relatively large accumulations of intermediates. Second, the enzymes of the porphyrin-producing pathway are widely distributed in human tissues and some of them are highly sensitive to the presence of various toxins.

Alterations of porphyrin synthesis that are not due to hereditary or toxic disturbances of porphyrin metabolism are adaptive responses. Such responses caused by alcohol or other drugs may not lead to clinical consequences. However, these disturbances often initiate biochemical and clinical manifestation of genetic porphyrias that previously may have been latent. Once initiated, the symptoms may be long-lasting, especially if the offending toxicant is not identified and removed or avoided. Numerous toxic porphyrias are precipitated by environmental mediators.

Multiple environmental and nutritional factors can cause additive effects. For example, hexachlorobenzene-induced porphyria is accentuated by estrogens and attenuated by vitamin C. The estrogen effect increases the susceptibility of women to porphyrias. Aluminum inhibits some heme synthetic enzymes and has been implicated in causing porphyria in chronic hemodialysis patients, whom are often aluminum overloaded.

Lead intoxication causes signs and symptoms similar to acute intermittent porphyria including abdominal pain, constipation and vomiting. However, anemia which is often found with lead intoxication may be absent in lower lead exposures that generate porphyria, indicating that the overall flux through the porphyrin pathway is not strongly reduced even though significant amounts of intermediates are spilled, due to the toxicant effect.

References:

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10830610

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15967199

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10787385

– https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/285c/c5c73b7ce1b39abb1917168934ece917a434.pdf

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9114276

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16782144

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11353126

– https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00039899909602482

– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3615245

What does it mean if your Heptacarboxyporphyrin result is too high?

Possible reasons for elevated Heptacarboxyporphyrin levels:

– Environmental Toxin-induced Porphyrinurias (Arsenic, Hexachlorobenzene, Dioxin, Polybrominated biphenyl

– Alcohol (chronic hepatic porphyria – late)

– Inherited factors: Porphyria cutanea tardia (PCT) and hepatoerythropoietic porphyria (HEP)

10 000+ happy customers
100% satisfaction
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ customer support

Understand blood, stool, and urine medical results from all your laboratories.

Upload Your Personal Results

Upload Personal Results

For professional account plans go here

for professional account plans go here

Monthly plan

Annual plan

Own it for life

  • Subscription
  • Data entry service included

    Data entry service

    Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.

  • Instant interpretation
  • Use free data entry form

    Free data entry form

    We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.

  • 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • Nutrition recommendations
  • Cancel anytime

Complete

$15 /month

billed every month

  • monthly
  • $15 per report
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ Free data entry form
  • ✓ Unlimited data
  • ✓ $15 data entry service
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Most popular

Data entry included

Advanced

$79 /year

$6.60/month billed annually

  • yearly
  • 5 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 5 reports for you
  • ✓ Yearly subscription
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

Data entry included

Unlimited

$250 /once

own it for life

  • pay once
  • 10 reports free
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Nutrition recommendations
  • ✓ We enter 10 reports for you
  • ✓ No subscription
  • ✓ Dedicated support
  • ✓ Unlimited access

Are You a Health Professional?

Get started with our professional plan

Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.

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

Pro Monthly Plus

for health professionals

  • ✓ Track multiple clients results
  • ✓ No setup fees
  • ✓ No hidden costs
  • ✓ Instant interpretations
  • ✓ 4000+ biomarkers explained
  • ✓ Includes data entry service
  • ✓ Personal training and support
  • ✓ Cancel anytime

$75 per month

Use promo code to save 10% off any plan.


We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.

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.