Hepcidin plasma levels are not associated with changes in haemoglobin in early rheumatoid arthritis patients

Objective: A reduction in haemoglobin level is a frequent complication among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Hepcidin has been linked to disturbed erythropoiesis. The objective of this study was to investigate the longitudinal changes in hepcidin in patients with early RA.Method: Hepcidin plasma concentrations were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in patients with early RA (n = 80) and healthy volunteers (HV, n = 40). Haemoglobin and other iron-related proteins were also measured. At baseline, all patients had active disease and were treatment naive. Patients were treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and with additional adalimumab (ADA, n = 42) or placebo (PLA, n = 38) during 52 weeks, using a treat-to-target strategy, aiming for a 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28) < 3.2.Results: At baseline, hepcidin levels [median (interquartile range)] were 9.7 ng/mL (5.2–19.4 ng/mL) in DMARD + ADA and 11.3 ng/mL (5.9–19.1 ng/mL) in DMARD + PLA. Both were significantly hig...