Hepcidin: Discovery to Destiny

Iron plays an important role in many essential biochemical processes of living creatures, so tight regulation of iron metabolism in needed. In recent years many new players were introduced in this field of iron homeostasis, among them liver derived anti-microbial peptide named as hepcidin plays a vital role. It is produced as propeptide and processed by furin into active peptide of 25 amino acid. Ferroportin is the key ligand for hepcidin bioactivity. It causes degradation and internalization of ferroportin molecule, thus prevents the export of iron from the key iron regulatory cells like enterocyte, hepatocyte, macrophages, etc. Main pathways responsible for expression of hepcidin molecule are BMP/HJV/SMAD and IL6/STAT3, they respond to iron status and inflammation respectively. Other conditions which can alter the hepcidin expression are anaemia, hypoxia and ineffective erythropoiesis. In different iron related clinical conditions, hepcidin production alters the pathogenesis of the diseases. So, hepcidin is a promising and unexploited therapeutic target for the development of newer drugs for iron metabolism related diseases.