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Updated: Jun 15, 2026
Quantitating Iron Transport Across the Mouse Placenta In Vivo Using Nonradioactive Iron Isotopes
Published on: May 10, 2022
Expression of growth differentiation factor 15 is not elevated in individuals with iron deficiency secondary to
Toshihiko Tanno1, Antoinette Rabel, Y Terry Lee
1Molecular Medicine Branch, NIDDK, Department of Transfusion Medicine, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Background:
Low serum hepcidin levels provide a physiologic response to iron demand in patients with iron deficiency (ID). Based on a discovery of suppressed hepcidin expression by a cytokine named growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), it was hypothesized that GDF15 may suppress hepcidin expression in humans with ID due to blood loss.
Study Design And Methods:
To test this hypothesis, GDF15 and hepcidin levels were measured in peripheral blood from subjects with iron-deficient erythropoiesis before and after iron supplementation.
Results:
Iron variables and hepcidin levels were significantly suppressed in iron-deficient blood donors compared to healthy volunteers. However, ID was not associated with elevated serum levels of GDF15. Instead, iron-deficient subjects' GDF15 levels were slightly lower than those measured in the control group of subjects (307 +/- 90 and 386 +/- 104 pg/mL, respectively). Additionally, GDF15 levels were not significantly altered by iron repletion.
Conclusions:
ID due to blood loss is not associated with a significant change in serum levels of GDF15.
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