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World J Clin Cases. Aug 6, 2019; 7(15): 1926-1936
Published online Aug 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i15.1926
Extrahepatic hepcidin production: The intriguing outcomes of recent years
Raêd Daher, Thibaud Lefebvre, Hervé Puy, Zoubida Karim
Raêd Daher, Thibaud Lefebvre, Hervé Puy, Zoubida Karim, Université Paris Diderot, Bichat site, Paris 75018, France
Raêd Daher, Thibaud Lefebvre, Hervé Puy, Zoubida Karim, Inflammation Research Center (CRI), INSERM U1149/ERL CNRS 8252, Paris 75018, France
Raêd Daher, Thibaud Lefebvre, Hervé Puy, Zoubida Karim, Laboratory of Excellence, GR-Ex, Paris 75018, France
Author contributions: Lefebvre T performed the experiment and generated the figure; Daher R wrote the manuscript; Puy H contributed to the writing of the manuscript; Karim Z designed the aim of the editorial and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zoubida Karim, PhD, Professor, Université Paris Diderot, Faculté de Médecine Site Bichat, 16 rue Henri-Huchard, Paris 75018, France. zoubida.karim@inserm.fr
Telephone: +33-1-57277559
Received: March 17, 2019
Peer-review started: March 18, 2019
First decision: May 21, 2019
Revised: June 18, 2019
Accepted: June 26, 2019
Article in press: June 27,2019
Published online: August 6, 2019
Processing time: 143 Days and 21 Hours
Abstract

Hepcidin is the hyposideremic hormone regulating iron metabolism. It is a defensin-like disulfide-bonded peptide with antimicrobial activity. The main site of hepcidin production is the liver where its synthesis is modulated by iron, inflammation and erythropoietic signaling. However, hepcidin locally produced in several peripheral organs seems to be an important actor for the maintenance of iron homeostasis in these organs. This review highlights the presence of peripheral hepcidin and its potential functions. Understanding the role of extrahepatic hepcidin could be of great physiological and therapeutic importance for several specific pathologies.

Keywords: Hepcidin; Extrahepatic hepcidin; Iron metabolism; Bacterial infection; Inflammation

Core tip: Hepcidin is the key regulator of iron homeostasis and is involved in iron-related disorders, namely anemia of inflammation and primary and secondary hemochromatosis. Since the discovery of its hyposideremic role, considerable efforts were made to explore iron handling by hepcidin. Almost all these studies focused on the liver because this organ was shown to be the major source of systemic hepcidin. However, interesting pending data showed an extrahepatic production of hepcidin in several organs, but the involvement of this peripheral hepcidin in local and overall iron homeostasis remains unknown. Thus, we think that those in the field should: (1) Consider the presence of endogenous hepcidin in the peripheral organs; and (2) Be interested in the involvement of hepcidin in other physiological and pathological mechanisms, in particular antimicrobial activity, acid secretion regulation, immune inflammatory response, etc.