HBED: A Potential Alternative to Deferoxamine for Iron-Chelating
Therapy
Raymond J. Bergeron,
Jan Wiegand, and
Gary M. Brittenham
From the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL and the Department of Medicine, MetroHealth Medical
Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH.
To examine the potential clinical usefulness of the hexadentate
phenolic aminocarboxylate iron chelator
N,N-bis(2-hydroxybenzyl)ethylenediamine-N,N-diacetic acid (HBED) for the chronic treatment of transfusional iron overload, we compared the iron excretion induced by subcutaneous (SC) injection of HBED and deferoxamine (DFO), the reference chelator, in rodents and
primates. In the non-iron-overloaded, bile-duct-cannulated rat, a
single SC injection of HBED, 150 µmol/kg, resulted in a net iron
excretion that was more than threefold greater than that after the same
dose of DFO. In the iron-loaded Cebus apella monkey, a
single SC injection of HBED, 150 µmol/kg, produced a net iron excretion that was more than twice that observed after the same dose of
SC DFO. In patients with transfusional iron overload, SC injections of
HBED may provide a much needed alternative to the use of prolonged
parenteral infusions of DFO.
Blood, Vol. 91 No. 4 (February 15), 1998:
pp. 1446-1452
© 1998 by The American Society of Hematology.
