Successful treatment for mice with beta-thalassemia

Beta-thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that results in chronic anaemia. A major complication of the condition is iron overload, which damages organs such as the liver and heart. The iron overload has been linked to low levels of the protein hepcidin, a negative regulator of intestinal iron absorption and iron recycling. A team of researchers, led by Stefano Rivella, at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, has now shown that increasing the concentration of hepcidin in beta-thalassemic mice limits iron overload and markedly reduces their anaemia. They therefore suggest that therapeutic approaches that increase hepcidin levels in patients with beta-thalassemia could be therapeutic, limiting iron overload and mitigating anaemia...

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