Is cord blood hepcidin influenced by the low-grade acute-phase response occurring during delivery? : A small-scale longitudinal study

AbstractAim: To measure serum hepcidin in late pregnancy and in cord blood, and to analyze relationship between hepcidin, interleukin-6, and biomarkers of fetal iron status.Materials and methods: Data from 15 uncomplicated singleton pregnancies were analyzed longitudinally in trimester 3 (T3) and at birth.Results: In T3, S-ferritin (median 14 µg/L) and transferrin (median 4.0 g/L) indicated low iron status, whereas the median soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) was 4.0 mg/L, i.e. within the reference interval. Median T3 S-hepcidin was 7.8 ng/mL. Later on in cord blood, ferritin concentration (180 µg/L) were significantly higher, transferrin concentration (1.8 g/L) were significantly lower, and both sTfR (4.7 mg/L) and S-hepcidin concentrations (30.5 ng/mL) were significantly higher than maternal T3 concentrations. At the same time, cord blood interleukin-6 indicated an activated acute-phase reaction. In T3, after logarithmic transformation, there was a significant correlation between S-hepcidin and both S...