Hepcidin – hormonal link in the interplay of systemic iron and glucose

Introduction: Diseases of glucose metabolism such as diabetes mellitus are mostly associated with elevated body iron status, and diseases of iron overload are often accompanied by type 2 diabetes. The molecular mechanism of such intriguing mutual relationships between iron and glucose metabolisms still remained enigmatic. Here we provide evidence that body iron and glucose profile is connected by the hormonal peptide hepcidin, originally identified as an antimicrobial defensin-like peptide in the liver. Methods: Peptide-specific antibodies were raised to localize hepcidin in human and rat pancreatic islets using…