title: Therapeutic potential of hepcidin - the master regulator of iron metabolism.
abstract: Iron is an essential biogenic element for both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In humans iron is present in hundreds of different metalloproteins. The peptide hormone hepcidin serves as a master regulator of iron homeostasis on the level of single cells and whole organism - by altering cell surface expression of cellular iron exporter - protein ferroportin. Altered levels of extracellular hepcidin lead to pathological conditions such as hemochromatosis and iron loading or, on the other side, iron restrictive anemias. Therapeutic modulation of hepcidin is a new and promising approach to treatment of these conditions. In this review, a summary of the current knowledge of hepcidin function, regulation and pathological involvements are provided, followed by a section covering the therapeutic potential of hepcidin and the current strategies how to modulate its levels and biological functions for therapeutic purposes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Prague, Czechia; Institute of Pathological Physiology, First Faculty of Medicine,Charles University, Prague, Czechia. Electronic address: vyoral@uhkt.cz.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vyoral
authors.affiliation: BIOCEV, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia; Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion, Prague, Czechia.
authors.lastname: Jiri Petrak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D064451:Hepcidins / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D000098742:Ferroportin
chemical_list: D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D064451:Hepcidins; D000098742:Ferroportin; D007501:Iron
keywords: Anemia of chronic disease; Hemochromatosis; Hepcidin; Iron; Iron deficiency anemia; Iron overload; Iron therapy; Thalassemia