The role of (Pro)hepcidin in inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Objective: Hepcidin is a peptide that that functions as main iron regulatory hormone in the body and exhibits antimicrobial activity. The synthesis of hepcidin is stimulated during inflammation and this elevation can cause inflammation anemia. The aim of this study was to determine the role of (pro)hepcidin in anemia in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and any correla-tion with clinical and biochemical findings.Materials and Methods: A total of 61 patients without any inflammatory condition other than IBD were included in this observational and cross-sectional study. The hepcidin level and other biochemical parameters related to anemia were mea-sured. All of the statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).Results: In all, 61 patients, 19 (31.1%) of whom were diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD), 42 (68.9%) with ulcerative coli-tis (UC), and a control group of 23 were enrolled. There was no significant difference in the hepcidin level between the CD and UC groups, and there was no significant difference in the hepcidin level between the IBD and control groups regarding hepcidin levels. As disease activity increased, the hepcidin level decreases with a probability of 83%.Conclusion: No statistically significant difference in the level of hepcidin was observed between the group with IBD and the control group.