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Pharmacologic inhibition of hepcidin expression reverses anemia of chronic disease in rats. Blood. 2011 Jul 5; Authors: Theurl I, Schroll A, Sonnweber T, Nairz M, Theurl M, Willenbacher W, Eller K, Wolf D, Seifert M, Sun CC, Babitt JL, Hong CC, Menhall T, Gearing P, Lin HY, Weiss G Abstract
Anemia of chronic disease (ACD) is the most frequent anemia in hospitalized patients and is associated with significant morbidity. A major underlying mechanism of ACD is the retention of iron within cells of the reticuloendothelial system (RES), thus making the metal unavailable for efficient erythropoiesis. This reticuloendothelial iron sequestration is primarily mediated by excess levels of the iron regulatory peptide hepcidin down-regulating the functional expression of the only known cellular iron export protein ferroportin resulting in blockade of iron egress from these cells. Using a well-established rat model of ACD, we herein provide novel evidence for effective treatment of ACD by blocking endogenous hepcidin production using the small molecule dorsomorphin derivative LDN-193189 or the protein soluble hemojuvelin-Fc (HJV.Fc) to inhibit bone morphogenetic protein-Smad mediated signaling required for effective hepcidin transcription. Pharmacological inhibition of hepcidin expression results in mobilization of iron from the RES, stimulation of erythropoiesis and correction of anemia. Thus, hepcidin lowering agents are a promising new class of pharmacologic drugs to effectively combat ACD.
PMID: 21730356 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] Read more |
