In alcoholic cirrhosis, low serum hepcidin levels associate with poor long-term survival and higher occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma

Background & Aims: Iron constitutes a potentially toxic element and consequently, hepatic iron overload may accelerate liver disease progression and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hepcidin is the central negative regulator of iron metabolism that is produced primarily by the liver. Methods: To study the prognostic significance of serum hepcidin, we assessed the influence of baseline serum hepcidin levels on outcome of a French cohort encompassing 237 patients with alcoholic liver cirrhosis prospectively followed-up in the setting of HCC screening. Results: Hepcidin values correlated weakly with s…