Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)
infection often develop into
cirrhosis, and both are major risk factors of
hepatocellular carcinoma. However, effective approaches for the monitoring of HBV-related disease progress are still in need. Increased
iron storage has an important role in HBV-related diseases.
Hepcidin is a key regulator of
iron homeostasis whose expression changes are often indicative of abnormal
iron metabolism. There are few reports of
hepcidin levels in patients with HBV
infections, and the available results are inconsistent. In this study, using a recently validated nanopore
silica film based method, we measured serum
hepcidin levels in 46 HBV-related patients and 20 healthy controls. Patients were divided into three groups:
chronic hepatitis B without
cirrhosis; HBV-related
cirrhosis; and HBV-related
cirrhosis with
hepatocellular carcinoma. Compared to healthy controls, the mean serum
hepcidin level was significantly higher in CHB patients without
cirrhosis, and in those with
hepatocellular carcinoma, but not in those with
cirrhosis.
Iron-loading,
viral infection and
liver dysfunction are determined to be the major regulators of
hepcidin in these patients. These observations suggest correlations between serum
hepcidin and progression of chronic HBV
infection, and may shed a new light on the development of
biomarkers for HBV-related disease surveillance.