| [ Summary ] |
Recently, serum hepcidin-25, which is a regulator of iron-metabolism, has been measured with mass spectrometry, and has come to be considered a molecular biomarker indicating renal anemia. The characteristics of iron-metabolism consist of iron recycle in a closed system without an active iron-excretion system, and maintainance of serum iron concentrations. This is managed with a feed back mechanism based on the transferring receptor 2-hepcidin-ferroportin system. Iron in the cells is supplied to the serum through ferroportin, which is the iron exporter and regulated by hepcidin-25 produced in hepatocytes. Serum levels of hepcidin-25 increase with renal anemia, in which the hematopoietic function is reduced due to an insufficiency of erythropoietin. |