Diagnosis and management of haemochromatosis since the discovery of the HFE gene: A European experience

Articles free to read on publisher website Hereditary haemochromatosis (HHC) is an autosomal recessive disorder of iron metabolism common in populations of north-west European ancestry. The term haemochromatosis was first used by von Recklinghausen (1889) to describe his post-mortem findings in patients who had died from ‘bronzed diabetes’. The condition was first suggested to be familial by Sheldon (1935), although it was as late as 1975 before the genetic nature of the condition was proven, when Simon et al (1975 ) demonstrated association with the HLA-A3 allele in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6...