Altered expression of iron regulatory genes in cirrhotic human livers: clues to the cause of hemosiderosis?

Hepatic iron deposition unrelated to hereditary hemochromatosis occurs commonly in cirrhosis but the pathogenesis of this condition is unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the expression of genes involved in the regulation of iron metabolism in cirrhotic (n = 22) and control human livers (n = 5). Transcripts were quantitated by real-time RT-PCR and protein levels were assessed by western blot. Hepatic iron concentrations (HICs) were measured by a spectrophotometric method. Levels of hepcidin mRNA did not differ between controls and cirrhotic livers; there was a highly significant correlation between hepcidin transcript levels and HIC in the latter group. Ferroportin, divalent metal transporter-1 (DMT1), and ferritin heavy chain mRNA levels were significantly higher in cirrhotic human livers than in controls (P = 0.007, 0.039, and 0.025, respectively). By western blot, ferroportin and DMT1 levels were generally diminished in the cirrhotic livers compared to controls; neither correlated with HIC. In contrast, the abundance of ferritin increased with increasing HIC in the cirrhotic livers, whereas transferrin receptor decreased, indicating physiologically appropriate regulation. In conclusion, hepcidin expression appears to be appropriately responsive to iron status in cirrhosis. However, there are complex alterations in DMT1 and ferroportin expression in cirrhotic liver, including decreases in ferroportin and DMT1 at the protein level that may play a role in aberrant regulation of iron metabolism in cirrhosis.