Leishmania parasites infect macrophages, cells that play an important role in organismal iron homeostasis. By expressing ferroportin, a membrane protein specialized in iron export, macrophages release iron stored intracellularly into the circulation. Iron is essential for the intracellular replication of Leishmania, but how the parasites compete with the iron export function of their host cell ...

PURPOSE CNS iron accumulation is associated with several neurodegenerative diseases, including age-related macular degeneration. Intracellular overload of free iron is prevented, in part, by the iron export protein, ferroportin, and the iron storage protein, ferritin. The purpose of this study was to assess retinal localization and regulation of ferroportin and ferritin. METHODS Normal murine...

Hepcidin, a 25-amino acid peptide hormone, is the principal regulator of plasma iron concentrations. Hepcidin binding to its receptor, the iron exporter ferroportin, induces ferroportin internalization and degradation, thus blocking iron efflux from cells into plasma. The aim of this study was to characterize the fate of hepcidin after binding to ferroportin. We show that hepcidin is taken up b...

Iron homeostasis in the mammalian brain is an important and poorly understood subject. Transferrin-bound iron enters the endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier from the systemic circulation, and iron subsequently dissociates from transferrin to enter brain parenchyma by an unknown mechanism. In recent years, several iron transporters, including the iron importer DMT1 (Ireg1, MTP, DCT1) an...

Disturbances of iron metabolism are observed in chronic liver diseases. In the present study, we examined gene expression of duodenal iron transport molecules and hepcidin in patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HHC) (treated and untreated), involving various genotypes (genotypes which represent risk for HHC were examined), and in patients with iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). Gene expressio...

Hepcidin is thought to control iron metabolism by interacting with the iron efflux transporter ferroportin. In macrophages, there is compelling evidence that hepcidin directly regulates ferroportin protein expression. However, the effects of hepcidin on intestinal ferroportin levels are less conclusive. In this study, we compared the effects of hepcidin on iron transporter expression in the spl...

Hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation on liver injury facilitates fibrosis. Hepatokines affecting HSCs are largely unknown. Here we show that hepcidin inhibits HSC activation and ameliorates liver fibrosis. We observe that hepcidin levels are inversely correlated with exacerbation of fibrosis in patients, and also confirm the relationship in animal models. Adenoviral delivery of hepcidin to mi...

In this paper we described the first Polish patient with ferroportin disease. Hereditary haemochromatosis (HH) is a condition associated with universal iron overload, and it is divided into four types, according to the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database. Ferroportin disease represented a rare type of HH, with autosomal dominant trait of inheritance. In our patient we detected a...

Regulation of iron metabolism and innate immunity are tightly interlinked. The acute phase response to infection and inflammation induces alterations in iron homeostasis that reduce iron supplies to pathogens. The iron hormone hepcidin is activated by such stimuli causing degradation of the iron exporter ferroportin and reduced iron release from macrophages, suggesting that hepcidin is the cruc...

Hepcidin, a master regulator of iron homeostasis, is produced in small amounts by inflammatory monocytes/macrophages. Chronic immune activation leads to iron retention within monocytes/macrophages and the development of anemia of chronic disease (ACD). We questioned whether monocyte-derived hepcidin exerts autocrine regulation toward cellular iron metabolism. Monocyte hepcidin mRNA expression w...