ArticleBMC genetics2015
Iron and hepcidin as risk factors in atherosclerosis: what do the genes say?
Article in BMC genetics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ferritin and transferrin predict common carotid intima-media thickness in females: a machine-learning informed individual participant data meta-analysis.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Pooled it
- Novel loci and biomedical consequences of iron homoeostasis variation.Communications biology · 2024Pooled it
- Replication and Characterization of Association between ABO SNPs and Red Blood Cell Traits by Meta-Analysis in Europeans.PloS one · 2016Pooled it
- Association of iron nutritional homeostasis and hepcidin gene polymorphisms with gestational diabetes mellitus.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- High Dietary Intake of Iron Might Be Harmful to Atrial Fibrillation and Modified by Genetic Diversity: A Prospective Cohort Study.Nutrients · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
- Hepcidin is potential regulator for renin activity.PloS one · 2022Article
- Contributions of HFE polymorphisms to brain and blood iron load, and their links to cognitive and motor function in healthy adults.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2021Article
- Non-Transferrin-Bound Iron in the Spotlight: Novel Mechanistic Insights into the Vasculotoxic and Atherosclerotic Effect of Iron.Antioxidants & redox signaling · 2021Review
- New insights into the role of iron in inflammation and atherosclerosis.EBioMedicine · 2019Review
- Ferritin in Kidney and Vascular Related Diseases: Novel Roles for an Old Player.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Review
- No effects without causes: the Iron Dysregulation and Dormant Microbes hypothesis for chronic, inflammatory diseases.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2018Review
- Internal Bleeding: Is Intraplaque Hemorrhage a Decoration or a Driver?JACC. Basic to translational science · 2018Article
- Prognostic Value of Iron-Homeostasis Regulating Peptide Hepcidin in Coronary Heart Disease-Evidence from the Large AtheroGene Study.Biomolecules · 2018Article
- Cohort Profile: The Nijmegen Biomedical Study (NBS).International journal of epidemiology · 2017Observational
- Heme Oxygenase Induction Suppresses Hepatic Hepcidin and Rescues Ferroportin and Ferritin Expression in Obese Mice.Journal of nutrition and metabolism · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevious reports suggested a role for iron and hepcidin in atherosclerosis. Here, we evaluated the causality of these associations from a genetic perspective via (i) a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach, (ii) study of association of atherosclerosis-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with iron and hepcidin, and (iii) estimation of genomic correlations between hepcidin, iron and atherosclerosis.
resultsAnalyses were performed in a general population sample. Iron parameters (serum iron, serum ferritin, total iron-binding capacity and transferrin saturation), serum hepcidin and genome-wide SNP data were available for N = 1,819; non-invasive measurements of atherosclerosis (NIMA), i.e., presence of plaque, intima media thickness and ankle-brachial index (ABI), for N = 549. For the MR, we used 12 iron-related SNPs that were previously identified in a genome-wide association meta-analysis on iron status, and assessed associations of individual SNPs and quartiles of a multi-SNP score with NIMA. Quartile 4 versus quartile 1 of the multi-SNP score showed directionally consistent associations with the hypothesized direction of effect for all NIMA in women, indicating that increased body iron status is a risk factor for atherosclerosis in women. We observed no single SNP associations that fit the hypothesized directions of effect between iron and NIMA, except for rs651007, associated with decreased ferritin concentration and decreased atherosclerosis risk. Two of six NIMA-related SNPs showed association with the ratio hepcidin/ferritin, suggesting that an increased hepcidin/ferritin ratio increases atherosclerosis risk. Genomic correlations were close to zero, except for hepcidin and ferritin with ABI at rest [-0.27 (SE 0.34) and -0.22 (SE 0.35), respectively] and ABI after exercise [-0.29 (SE 0.34) and -0.30 (0.35), respectively]. The negative sign indicates an increased atherosclerosis risk with increased hepcidin and ferritin concentrations.
conclusionsOur results suggest a potential causal role for hepcidin and ferritin in atherosclerosis, and may indicate that iron status is causally related to atherosclerosis in women.
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