Liver-Pancreas-Heart Triangle and HCV in Thalassemia: Expanding the Horizon through Biomarker Networks

Magnetic Resonance Imaging represents the elective strategy to assess iron overload in different organs and drives the iron chelation therapy in Thalassemia major (TM). However, affected organs, in particular liver, pancreas and heart, are not isolated but interact each other and communicate through biochemical mediators, which may accelerate and worsen pathological processes considered unrelated. A better understanding of these intermingled pathways might help to identify more significant biomarker combinations and the association of these biomarkers to TM complexity, possibly assisting imaging techniques in the prevention of complications and in the improvement of life quality in TM patients. *Corresponding author: Cristina Vassalle, PhD, Fondazione G.Monasterio CNR-Regione Toscana Via Moruzzi 1, I-56124, Pisa, Italy, Tel: +39-050-3153525; Fax: +39-050-3152166, E-mail: [email protected] Received Date: January 17, 2017 Accepted Date: February 22, 2017 Published Date: February 27, 2017