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Hepcidin, a 25-amino acid peptide synthesized by hepatocytes, regulates iron metabolism by lowering both iron absorption by enterocytes and iron release by macrophages. Hepcidin formation rises when iron is abundant and is suppressed when iron is deficient. At the molecular level, hepcidin binds to the effector of iron efflux, ferroportin, causing its internalization and degradation. Hepcidin thus plays a major role in conditions associated with iron excess and deficiency. But measurements of this peptide generally are not in clinical use because of the limited availability of hepcidin assays.
To remedy this situation, investigators conducted an industry-supported study of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) designed to measure hepc…