ABSTRACT
Hepcidin is a small, cysteine-rich cationic peptide produced by hepatocytes. There is a single human hepcidin gene; whose essential role in iron homeostasis was confirmed by identifying homozygous frameshift or nonsense mutations in affected individuals with severe Juvenile hemochromatosis. IL-6 may be the mediator of hepcidin induction by inflammation. Hypoferremia is a common response to systemic infections or generalized inflammatory disorders, anemia of chronic disease occurs in patients with acute and chronic immune activation and represents an important clinical problem. The study will attempt to determine the hepatic hepcidin expression levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Fifty patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection [CHCV], their age between [20- 55] years, selected from the National Hepatology and Tropical Medicine Research Institute were included in this study, before interferon and Ribavirin therapy, and ten healthy individuals were included to serve as controls. All the patients and controls were subjected to the following history, clinical examination, abdominal ultrasonography and collection of blood samples for routine laboratory investigations. CBCs and serological assay for serum ferritin, iron, transferrin [s-TFR] levels, Liver biopsy for hepcidin mRNA levels and iron deposits in liver by [PCR] polymerase chain reaction. All subjects gave written informed consent for enrolment in the study, which was approved by the Research Ethical Committee of the General Organization for Teaching Hospitals and Institutes. Liver biopsy was taken from healthy subjects during abdominal surgery. Our results revealed that hepatic hepcidin expression is considered highly valid marker in case of CHCV infection. Our study concluded that there's a highly significant inverse correlation between hepcidin versus liver iron, serum iron and serum transferrin but there's no significant correlation versus ferritin. Hepcidin measuring and manipulating hepcidin levels will, in the future, have a role in diagnosing and treating any number of iron related disorders. Hepcidin itself has antimicrobial properties of uncertain importance so that careful clinical trials will be required to define appropriate indications of hepcidin antagonists