Tag: Acute phase protein

In the field of medicine, an unusually low blood level of haptoglobin can be a sign of hemolytic anemia, a disorder where red blood cells are destroyed faster than they are replaced. This protein, abbreviated HP, most commonly stands for Haptoglobin, a critical molecule with several biological functions that go beyond simple hemoglobin binding.

Haptoglobin (Hp) is an abundant plasma protein that binds to free hemoglobin released from red blood cells. In humans, there are three main types of haptoglobin, known as phenotypes Hp 1-1, Hp 2-1, and Hp 2-2, which result from a genetic polymorphism in the HP gene.