8.A.37 The Hepcidin (Hepcidin) Family

Hepcidin is known to increase intracellular iron through binding to and degrading ferroportin, which is a transmembrane protein that transports iron from the cytoplasm to the outside. Hepcidin (<100 nM/L) increases intracellular calcium when cells are exposed to high environmental iron concentrations (Li et al., 2012). L-type calcium channel, and ryanodine receptors are not involved. Antagonists of these channels inhibit abnormal calcium release from the sarco-endoplasmic reticulum. The increase of intracellular calcium induced by hepcidin is probably due to calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum. Hepcidin is the key regulator of iron metabolism in humans through its inhibition of the iron-exporting protein ferroportin (Ehsani 2020).