Mission Statement

Hepcidinanalysis.com is an initiative to serve the scientific and medical communities with high-quality hepcidin measurements to study the role of this peptide hormone in disorders of iron metabolism.

Expertise

In 2005, we were the first to employ time-of-flight mass spectrometry to measure hepcidin in urine. We have continued to improve this assay towards a current quantitative assay to measure hepcidin in human serum and urine samples using an internal standard for quantification. Since then, we have gained thorough expertise on biomedical and pre-analytical factors that influence hepcidin levels in clinical and biological samples and our assay has been used in several biomedical studies. We now coordinate the harmonization of hepcidin methods that are currently in use throughout the world.

Method

We offer quantitative serum/plasma and urine hepcidin measurements by a combination of weak cation exchange chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry using a hepcidin analogue as internal standard. This method allows discrimination between the three naturally occurring isoforms, hepcidin-20, -22, and -25, which are the result from differential processing at the hepcidin amino-terminus. Importantly, only the 25 amino acid form can block the iron transporter ferroportin and is referred to as “bioactive” hepcidin.

 

Characteristics serum/plasma hepcidin assay (download)

Characteristics urine hepcidin assay (download)

 

Reference values

We determined age- and sex-stratified reference ranges of serum hepcidin concentration in a large, well-phenotyped, sample of the general population (n = 2998). In addition, we defined the reference [hepcidin/ferritin] and [transferrin saturation/hepcidin] ratios, which are important for the clinical interpretation of measured hepcidin concentrations.

 

Hepcidin reference values WCX-TOF MS (download)

 

Provided Service

 

For Clinicians: Request tests online

Quantitative hepcidin measurements in human serum or plasma for individual or a small number of samples from patients with iron metabolism disorders can be directly order through our webform

For Researchers: Tailored projects for hepcidin measurements upon request

Procedure

1. Send an Email to info@hepcidinanalysis.com to specify your interest in this service
2. A Service Request Form will be returned, together with answers to project-specific questions and a cost indication
3. Fill-in and return Service  Request Form to info@hepcidinanalysis.com
4. A Project Agreement with project specifications, purchase order number and actual “Project Fee” will be returned by Email [download Example Project Agreement]
5. Send-in sample(s) together with countersigned Project Agreement; send electronic list with sample ID’s (Excel) to info@hepcidinanalysis.com as shipment dispatch notification
6. Hepcidin Data Sheet and Project Invoice will be returned by Email

Notes: supply 1 ml fresh sample in a 2 ml polypropylene tube; make sure that the provided sample ID’s match the ID’s on the tubes; only use coded patient information (eg.internal hospital code) as results will be returned by Email; costs are dependent on the material, study design, number of samples and can only be estimated upon specific request; turn-around-time is dependent on project volume and sample quality

 

Important: never send in samples without a Purchase Order (online test request) or Project Agreement. For all questions or requests, please contact us by Email at info@hepcidinanalysis.com

 

General Sample Recommendations

• Preferred use of serum/plasma and standardized sampling time
• Apply 1 ml fresh sample in 2 ml polypropylene tube
• Store at -80°C avoiding freeze-thaw cycles
• Standardized sampling and storage protocols for cases & controls
• Transportation on dry ice per express mail

Serum/plasma collection protocol (download)

 

Other applications

Our flexible approach also allows hepcidin measurements in other human body fluids, growth medium from in vitro cultured human cell lines and body fluids from different animals. We have established a qualitative assay for mouse hepcidin peptides in serum (Hep-1) and urine (Hep-2).

 

 

 

 

Hepcidinanalysis.com is located within the Department of Laboratory Medicine of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center and is embedded within the Institute for Genetic and Metabolic Diseases. The team members have a broad expertise in iron metabolism, clinical chemistry, diagnostic medicine, biomedical sciences, molecular biology, mass spectrometry and biochemistry.

 

 

Hepcidinanalysis.com is part of the legal entity “UMC St Radboud Onderzoek Klinische Chemie B.V.”, which is listed in the Commercial Register of the Chamber of Commerce under file number 41261285.