Acute leukemia (AL) is a heterogeneous group of hematopoietic
neoplasms and it is the most common childhood malignancy. Many
patients with AL develop severe anemia that requires multiple blood
transfusions. Hepcidin expression may play a role in anemia which is
often seen in these patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the
role of hepcidin in acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children in Egypt.
60 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 20 age and
gender matched healthy children, taken as control group, were
included in the study. Complete blood count (CBC), Serum ALT and
serum AST were measured by colorimetric methods. Serum hepcidin
and ferritin were measured by ELISA. The study showed a significant
difference between newly diagnosed ALL cases and other groups
regarding all CBC parameters. There was a significant difference in
serum levels of hepcidin and ferritin between studied groups. A
significant negative correlation was found between serum level of
hepcidin and ferritin and each of hemoglobin level and reticulocytic
count %, while significant positive correlation was found between
hepcidin and ferritin serum levels. From this study, it could be
concluded that serum hepcidin level is elevated in ALL children
patients at time of diagnosis and correlates with the disease extent.
Hepcidin may be one of the serum markers that accounting for anemia
associated with ALL in children.