Low hepcidin in liver fibrosis and cirrhosis; a tale of progressive disorder and a case for a new biochemical marker

Liver fibrosis is a precursor of liver cirrhosis, which is associated with increased mortality. Though liver biopsy remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of fibrosis, noninvasive biochemical methods are cost-effective, practical and are not linked with major risks of complications. In this respect, serum hepcidin, has emerged as a new marker of fibrosis and cirrhosis. In this review the discussion uncovers molecular links between hepcidin disturbance and liver fibrosis/cirrhosis. The discussion also expands on clinical studies that suggest that hepcidin can potentially be used as a biochemical parameter of fibrosis/cirrhosis and target of therapeutic strategies to treat liver diseases. The debatable issues such as the complicated nature of hepcidin disturbance in non-alcoholic liver disease, serum levels of hepcidin in acute hepatitis C virus infection, cause of hepcidin disturbance in autoimmune hepatitis and hepatic insulin resistance are discussed, with potential solutions unveiled in order to be studied by future research.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Molecular Medicine

• Publication date

  2018-03-15

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1186/s10020-018-0008-7PMID 30134796PMCID 6016890
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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