Hepcidin concentrations and iron homeostasis in preeclampsia

Abstract

Plasma iron concentrations are increased despite high hepcidin concentrations in PE. This might indicate a resistance to the iron-decreasing action of hepcidin.

Hepcidin and Iron Homeostasis during Pregnancy

“…This review reveals a significant paucity of studies assessing hepcidin during pregnancy. Ten human [47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56] and six animal studies [57,58,59,60,61,62] met the inclusion criteria with findings reported in Table 1.…”

“…Six of the ten human studies utilized a cross-sectional study design [47,48,49,50,51,52] and four were longitudinal [53,55,56,68]. Sample size for the human studies ranged from 19 [52] to 191 subjects [48].…”

“…Sample size for the human studies ranged from 19 [52] to 191 subjects [48]. Human studies examined hepcidin values at 8 to 15 weeks gestation [49,55], 19 to 25 weeks [55], 24 to 28 weeks gestation [56], 24 to 40 weeks gestation [50,55], at childbirth, [51,53], 24 h postpartum, [55] three days postpartum [53], and six weeks postpartum [55]. Only three studies examined hepcidin longitudinally across all three trimesters [55,68].…”

“…Cord blood hepcidin, obtained at delivery, was measured in four of the human studies [48,51,52,56]. Hepcidin was assessed in plasma [50,51], serum [48,52,53,55,56,68], and urine [47,49]. Seven of ten human studies analyzed hepcidin using mass spectrometry [47,49,50,51,53,55,68] and three studies used ELISAs [48,52,56].…”

“…Hepcidin was assessed in plasma [50,51], serum [48,52,53,55,56,68], and urine [47,49]. Seven of ten human studies analyzed hepcidin using mass spectrometry [47,49,50,51,53,55,68] and three studies used ELISAs [48,52,56]. Unfortunately, hepcidin values from the human studies cannot be directly compared to each other because hepcidin assays have not been standardized, and different methods yield different absolute values and normal ranges, although they correlate strongly [65].…”