Hepcidin and regulation of iron homeostasis in maintenance hemodialysis patients

Hepcidin may play a critical role in the response of patients with anemia to iron and erythropoiesis-stimulating agent therapy. To evaluate the factors affecting serum hepcidin levels and their relation to other indexes of anemia, iron metabolism and inflammation, as well as the dose of erythropoietin, we studied 80 maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients treated with recombinant human erythropoietin and their serum hepcidin levels were specifically measured by using a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In linear regression analysis, ferritin was found to be a significant predictor of hepcidin levels in all the study patients. In the absence of apparent inflammation, serum hepcidin levels correlated exclusively with ferritin levels in MHD patients, and it was also an independent marker of inflammation as highly sensitive C-reactive protein.