title: Novel urine hepcidin assay by mass spectrometry.
abstract: The hepatic peptide hormone hepcidin is the central regulator of iron metabolism and mediator of anemia of inflammation. To date, only one specific immuno-dot assay to measure hepcidin in urine had been documented. Here we report an alternative approach for quantification of hepcidin in urine by surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). Peptide peaks were detected corresponding to the 3 forms of hepcidin normally found in urine. The identity of the peptide peak equivalent to hepcidin-25 was confirmed using synthetic human hepcidin-25. Validation of our MS data on samples with various hepcidin levels showed a strong correlation with previous immuno-dot assay results (Spearman R = 0.9275, P < .001). Most importantly, this hepcidin assay clearly discriminates between relevant clinical iron disorders. In conclusion, this novel MS urine hepcidin assay is easy to perform and available to a wide audience. This enables the implementation of hepcidin measurements in large clinical studies.
authors: Department of Clinical Chemistry 564, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. e.kemna@akc.umcn.nl
authors: Erwin
authors: E
authors: Kemna
authors: Harold
authors: H
authors: Tjalsma
authors: Coby
authors: C
authors: Laarakkers
authors: Elizabeta
authors: E
authors: Nemeth
authors: Hans
authors: H
authors: Willems
authors: Dorine
authors: D
authors: Swinkels
mesh_terms: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000652:urine*; D064451:Hepcidins; D006801:Humans; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; C578702:HAMP protein, human; D064451:Hepcidins