The aim of our study was to quantify serum hepcidin levels in Bulgarian patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Expected high values of peptide hormones might provide a new therapeutic choice for anemia of chronic disease. We looked for correlation between serum hepcidin levels and some iron metabolism parameters in CKD patients.Results: The sandwich ELISA is highly specific for hepcidin-25. We found statistically significant differences in serum hepcidin levels in patients of the control group, with CKD stages II to IV and CKD stage V (on chronic dialysis): 12.7±8.7μg/L, 90.74±21.1μg/L, and 282.49±81.1μg/L, respectively. Significant correlation between serum hepcidin and transferrin saturation (r=0.340, P<0.05) was found in the group of patients with CKD stage V.Conclusion: The use of 2 monoclonal antibodies in a sandwich ELISA format provides a reliable, reproducible, and inexpensive method for measuring serum concentrations of the bioactive form of hepcidin in Bulgarian laboratory practice.