The Development of New Drug Targeting Hepcidin / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

Iron is one of the essential trace elements in the human body, the body adjusts its own iron content to maintain iron balance. Iron imbalance, either iron deficiency or over load can cause variety of diseases. As a small molecule peptide hormones, hepcidin negatively regulates iron metabolism. It has become a new therapeutic target for iron disorder diseases. The structure of hepcidin, its regulation mechanism of iron metabolism, the regulatory mechanism of hepcidin in the body, and related diseases caused by hepcidin imbalance were reviewed. This article also reviewed the types and advances of new drugs targeting hepcidin. Due to the continuous research on hepcidin, a specific targeted therapy for specific molecules in the hepcidin signaling pathway has been gradually developed. Through hepcidin activator or antagonist, it can promote or inhibit the expression of hepcidin, thereby improving or treating disorders related to iron metabolism disorders at the molecular level. Hepcidin itself, hepcidin activator represented by small chemical compounds and siRNA, and hepcidin antagonist represented by heparin derivatives are hopeful new drugs to correct disorders related to iron homeostasis.