Iron metabolism in patients with ALD

Aims: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the major liver disease in the developed world that is characterized by pathological hepatic iron deposits. This non-HFE-related iron overload is considered a key mechanism of rapid disease progression towards liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We here performed a systematic histological, protein and mRNA expression analysis on liver biopsies from patients with well characterized ALD. Methods: 100 patients with histologically confirmed ALD who were admitted for alcohol withdrawal were included. Clinical parameters, liver biopsies and serum iron parameters were co…