The hepatic
peptide hormone hepcidin is the central regulator of
iron metabolism and mediator of
anemia of
inflammation. To date, only one specific immuno-dot assay to measure
hepcidin in urine had been documented. Here we report an alternative approach for quantification of
hepcidin in urine by surface-enhanced
laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS).
Peptide peaks were detected corresponding to the 3 forms of
hepcidin normally found in urine. The identity of the
peptide peak equivalent to hepcidin-25 was confirmed using synthetic human hepcidin-25. Validation of our MS data on samples with various
hepcidin levels showed a strong correlation with previous immuno-dot assay results (Spearman R = 0.9275, P < .001). Most importantly, this
hepcidin assay clearly discriminates between relevant clinical
iron disorders. In conclusion, this novel MS urine
hepcidin assay is easy to perform and available to a wide audience. This enables the implementation of
hepcidin measurements in large clinical studies.