Serum pro-hepcidin concentrations and their responses to oral iron supplementation in healthy subjects manifest considerable inter-individual variation
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Susanna Luukkonen
Abstract
Hepcidin participates in the regulation of iron homeostasis and its precursor pro-hepcidin can be measured in serum. We evaluated pro-hepcidin serum concentrations in healthy subjects and the possible effects of iron supplementation on the results. The results suggest extensive physiological variation in serum pro-hepcidin concentrations between healthy subjects with no symptoms or signs of anaemia, infections, inflammations, chronic disease or other interpretative factors. Before pro-hepcidin measurements can be used in clinical practise, further investigations are required to identify the physiological factors affecting normal serum pro-hepcidin variations in healthy subjects. The responses of serum pro-hepcidin to a 100-mg oral dose of iron also showed considerable inter-individual variation. In male subjects, no systematic changes in serum pro-hepcidin concentrations were found and the increase in serum iron was fairly modest. In nine out of the ten female subjects who had rather low amounts of storage iron, iron supplementation was followed by an increase in both serum iron and serum pro-hepcidin concentrations. There were considerable inter-individual differences in the timing and magnitude of the response. We also evaluated the conceivable influences of sample storage and freeze-thaw cycles on the results of serum pro-hepcidin ELISA. We did not observe any changes in the results after serum samples were frozen and thawed up to four times and/or stored at room temperature for up to 6h.
Clin Chem Lab Med 2006;44:1361–2.
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©2006 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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Articles in the same Issue
- Renal function – estimation of glomerular filtration rate
- Research translation: a new frontier for clinical laboratories
- Association of APOA5 c.553G>T polymorphism with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a Chinese population
- MTRR 66A>G polymorphism in relation to congenital heart defects
- Increased homocysteine in heart failure: a result of renal impairment?
- Urine flow cytometry and detection of glomerular hematuria
- Chymotrypsin effects on the determination of sperm parameters and seminal biochemistry markers
- Evaluation of cardiac involvement following major orthopedic surgery
- Increased sensitivity in detecting renal impairments by quantitative measurement of marker protein excretion compared to detection of pathological particles in urine sediment analysis
- Clinical chemistry reference values for 75-year-old apparently healthy persons
- Serum pro-hepcidin concentrations and their responses to oral iron supplementation in healthy subjects manifest considerable inter-individual variation
- Comparability of five analytical systems for the determination of triiodothyronine, thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone
- Automated analysis of pleural fluid total and differential leukocyte counts with the Sysmex XE-2100
- Automation and validation of a fast method for the assessment of in vivo oxidative stress levels
- Analytical validation of the new plasma calibrated Accu-Chek® Test Strips (Roche Diagnostics)
- Use of insulin immunoassays in clinical studies involving rapid-acting insulin analogues: Bi-insulin IRMA preliminary assessment
- Analytical and clinical evaluation of a new heart-type fatty acid-binding protein automated assay
- A caveat for OV-Monitor (CA 125 antigen) measurement: something is improving, something is not
- Reply to the letter written by Dorizzi et al.
