Grant: Project Grant

Iron deficiency is a commonly occuring health issue that primarily impacts children, causing their bodies to not produce enough red blood cells (called anemia) and stunting their growth. Iron deficiency often happens at the same time as vitamin A deficiency, although we don't fully understand the underlying biology of this interaction and how it worsens health. This proposal is focused on how a lack of iron can disrupt the way the body uses vitamin A, causing diseases typical of vitamin A deficiency. We have already been able to recreate the effects of iron deficiency on vitamin A metabolism in experimental rats, leading us to our central idea that iron deficiency traps vitamin A in the liver, preventing it from being used by the rest of the body and causing diseases linked with vitamin A deficiency. The work we are proposing builds on this foundation, and aims to uncover: 1) how iron deficiency disrupts the way the body uses vitamin A at a molecular level, 2) how iron deficiency causes disease associated with vitamin A deficiency, and 3) how we might be able to intervene and restore how the body uses its vitamin A in the context of iron deficiency to prevent disease. The results of this research will give us a better understanding of exactly how a lack of iron disrupts the way the body uses vitamin A. Furthermore, at both the individual and population level, this work has the potential to improve health and prevent diseases associated with vitamin A deficiency by suggesting new ways to "unlock" the vitamin A that is trapped in the liver of iron deficient people. Given how widespread iron deficiency is in the world, this work has significant potential to improve human health.