The iron regulatory hormone hepcidin is decreased in pregnancy: a prospective longitudinal study.

Background: Iron deficiency is a commonly encountered problem in pregnancy and a frequently observed cause of pregnancy-associated anemia. We longitudinally assessed the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin during gestation and postpartum and related hepcidin to conventional indicators of iron status and inflammation.

Methods: Thirty-one healthy pregnant women were included and 81 blood samples from the three trimesters, directly and 6 weeks postpartum were analyzed for hemoglobin, the iron parameters: iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor and hepcidin, and CRP and leucocytes as markers of inflammation.

Diurnal rhythm rather than dietary iron mediates daily hepcidin variations.

Background: The iron-regulating hormone hepcidin is a promising biomarker in the diagnosis of iron disorders. Concentrations of hepcidin have been shown to increase during the day in individuals who are following a regular diet. It is currently unknown whether these increases are determined by an innate rhythm or by other factors.

Second round robin for plasma hepcidin methods: first steps toward harmonization.

Measurements of the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin by various methodologies and laboratories are not harmonized. As a result different numeric results are obtained for the same clinical sample. We investigated whether better agreement between plasma hepcidin methods can be achieved by harmonization.

Hepcidin in human iron disorders: diagnostic implications.

Background: The peptide hormone hepcidin plays a central role in regulating dietary iron absorption and body iron distribution. Many human diseases are associated with alterations in hepcidin concentrations. The measurement of hepcidin in biological fluids is therefore a promising tool in the diagnosis and management of medical conditions in which iron metabolism is affected.

Inflammation-induced hepcidin-25 is associated with the development of anemia in septic patients: an observational study.

Introduction: Anemia is a frequently encountered problem during inflammation. Hepcidin is an interleukin-6 (IL-6)-induced key modulator of inflammation-associated anemia. Human sepsis is a prototypical inflammatory syndrome, often complicated by the development of anemia.

Immunochemical and mass-spectrometry-based serum hepcidin assays for iron metabolism disorders.

Background: Hepcidin is an iron-regulatory peptide hormone that consists of 3 isoforms: bioactive hepcidin-25, and inactive hepcidin-22 and hepcidin-20. Hepcidin is instrumental in the diagnosis and monitoring of iron metabolism disorders, but reliable methods for its quantification in serum are sparse, as is knowledge of their relative analytical strengths and clinical utility.

Methods: We developed a competitive (c)-ELISA and an immunocapture TOF mass-spectrometry (IC-TOF-MS) assay.

Results of the first international round robin for the quantification of urinary and plasma hepcidin assays: need for standardization.

The recently discovered iron regulatory peptide hormone hepcidin holds promise as a novel biomarker in iron metabolism disorders. To date, various mass spectrometry and immunochemical methods have been developed for its quantification in plasma and urine. Differences in methodology and analytical performance hinder the comparability of data.

Time-course analysis of serum hepcidin, iron and cytokines in a C282Y homozygous patient with Schnitzler's syndrome treated with IL-1 receptor antagonist.

It is currently unknown if the increase of the hepatic iron regulatory hormone hepcidin during inflammation in man depends on an intact HFE-protein. Here we describe the temporal relationship of serum hepcidin, serum iron and cytokines in a patient with HFE-related (C282Y homozygous) hereditary hemochromatosis who was treated for an auto-inflammatory condition, i.e.

High-sensitive radioimmunoassay for human serum hepcidin.

The hepatic peptide hormone hepcidin plays a central role in body iron metabolism. Despite its promise as a biomarker, the availability of high-sensitive hepcidin assays is still limited. We developed and validated a RadioImmunoAssay (RIA) to measure hepcidin quantitatively in human serum.

(Pre)analytical imprecision, between-subject variability, and daily variations in serum and urine hepcidin: implications for clinical studies.

The utility of urine and serum hepcidin measurements in the clinic depends on their reproducibility. We sought to expand our previous work on the within-subject variability and between-subject variability of this novel iron parameter in the serum and urine of 24 healthy controls by time-of-flight mass spectrometry at four different time points during the day. A linear mixed model for repeated data was used to distinguish three components of the total variability in the measurements: within-day/within-subject variability, between-subject variability, and additional residual or (pre)analytical variability.