ARS | Publication request: Serum Prohepcidin Does Not Predict Iron Absorption in Healthy Women

Submitted to: Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: December 1, 2004
Publication Date: March 7, 2005
Publisher's URL: http://www.fasebj.org
Citation: Hadley, K.B., Johnson, L.K., Hunt, J.R. 2005. Serum prohepcidin does not predict iron absorption in healthy women [abstract]. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal. 19(5):A1481.

Technical Abstract: Hepcidin, a 20-25 amino acid (aa) peptide secreted from the liver as an 84 aa prohepcidin peptide, has been proposed as a regulator of body iron (Fe) absorption. Variation in serum prohepcidin and its relationship to iron absorption and Fe status was assessed in 28 healthy females, 21-51 y, with BMI 20-34 kg/m2, hemoglobin 120-152 g/L, and serum ferritin 4-122 ug/L. Absorption of 0.2 uCi 59Fe in 0.5 mg Fe as FeSO4 was measured by whole body counting within 4 hours and then 13 days post-ingestion of a gelatin capsule given with water, under fasting conditions. Fasting blood was collected 1 d prior to and 16 wk after the Fe dose and stored at -80ºC until analysis. Serum prohepcidin was measured by competition ELISA (DRG Intl. Inc., Germany). Fe absorption and serum prohepcidin, ferritin, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were logarithmically transformed. Prohepcidin ranged from 99 to 376 with a geometric mean of 184 ug/L and CVs of 6.6 and 2.8% for inter- and intra-individual variance, respectively. Prohepcidin correlated directly with serum ferritin (r= 0.47, p<0.01), but was unrelated to Fe absorption (NS), in contrast to serum ferritin (r= -0.57, p<0.01), mg body Fe/kg (r= -0.53, p<0.01; Cook, Blood 2003), or CRP (r=-0.37, p<0.05). Prohepcidin did not correlate with CRP, transferrin receptor, transferrin saturation, or hemoglobin. In non-anemic women with a range of normal Fe stores, serum prohepcidin did not predict Fe absorption.