BackgroundHepcidin is a 25-aminoacid cysteine-rich iron regulating peptide. Increased hepcidin concentrations lead to iron sequestration in macrophages, contributing to the pathogenesis of anaemia of chronic disease whereas decreased hepcidin is observed in iron deficiency and primary iron overload diseases such as hereditary hemochromatosis. Hepcidin quantification in human blood or urine may provide further insights for the pathogenesis of disorders of iron homeostasis and might prove a valuable tool for clinicians for the differential diagnosis of anaemia. This study describes a specific and non-operator demanding immunoassay for hepcidin quantification in human sera.Methods and FindingsAn ELISA assay was developed for measuring hepcidin serum concentration using a recombinant hepcidin25-His peptide and a polyclonal antibody against this peptide, which was able to identify native hepcidin. The ELISA assay had a detection range of 10–1500 µg/L and a detection limit of 5.4 µg/L. The intra- and interassay coefficients of variance ranged from 8–15% and 5–16%, respectively. Mean linearity and recovery were 101% and 107%, respectively. Mean hepcidin levels were significantly lower in 7 patients with juvenile hemochromatosis (12.8 µg/L) and 10 patients with iron deficiency anemia (15.7 µg/L) and higher in 7 patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (116.7 µg/L) compared to 32 age-matched healthy controls (42.7 µg/L).ConclusionsWe describe a new simple ELISA assay for measuring hepcidin in human serum with sufficient accuracy and reproducibility.

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The neuronal alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) binds the neurotoxin alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha-Bgt). Fine mapping of the alpha-Bgt-binding site on the human alpha7 AChR was performed using synthetic peptides covering the entire extracellular domain of the human alpha7 subunit (residues 1-206). Screening of these peptides for (125)I-alpha-Bgt binding resulted in the identification of at least two toxin-binding sites, one at residues 186-197, which exhibited the best (125)I-alpha-Bgt binding, and one at residues 159-165, with weak toxin-binding capacity; these correspond, respectively, to loops C and IV of the agonist-binding site. Toxin binding to the alpha7(186-197) peptide was almost completely inhibited by unlabelled alpha-Bgt or d -tubocurarine. Alanine substitutions within the sequence 186-198 revealed a predominant contribution of aromatic and negatively charged residues to the binding site. This sequence is homologous to the alpha-Bgt binding site of the alpha1 subunit (residues 188-200 in Torpedo AChR). In competition experiments, the soluble peptides alpha7(186-197) and Torpedo alpha1(184-200) inhibited the binding of (125)I-alpha-Bgt to the immobilized alpha7(186-197) peptide, to native Torpedo AChR, and to the extracellular domain of the human alpha1 subunit. These results suggest that the toxin-binding sites of the neuronal alpha7 and muscle-type AChRs bind to identical or overlapping sites on the alpha-Bgt molecule. In support of this, when synthetic alpha-Bgt peptides were tested for binding to the recombinant extracellular domains of the human alpha7 and alpha1 subunits, and to native Torpedo and alpha7 AChR, the results indicated that alpha-Bgt interacts with both neuronal and muscle-type AChRs through its central loop II and C-terminal tail.

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Phosphorylation of the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) seems to be responsible for triggering several effects including its desensitization and aggregation at the postsynaptic membrane and probably initiates a signal transduction pathway at the postsynaptic membrane. To study the structural and functional role of the tyrosine phosphorylation site of the AChR beta-subunit and contribute to the in-depth understanding of the structural basis of the ion channel function, we synthesized four peptides containing the phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated sequences (380-391) of the human and Torpedo AChR beta-subunits and studied their interaction with a monoclonal antibody (mAb 148) that is known to bind to this region and that is capable of blocking ion channel function. All four peptides were efficient inhibitors of mAb 148 binding to AChR, although the nonphosphorylated human peptide was considerably less effective than the three others. We then investigated the conformation acquired by all four peptides in their antibody-bound state, which possibly illustrates the local conformation of the corresponding sites on the intact AChR molecule. The phosphorylated human and Torpedo peptides adopted a distorted 3(10) helix conformation. The nonphosphorylated Torpedo peptide, which is also an efficient inhibitor, was also folded. In contrast, the nonphosphorylated human peptide (a less efficient inhibitor) presented an extended structure. It is concluded that the phosphorylation of the AChR at its beta-subunit Tyr site leads to a significant change in its conformation, which may affect several functions of the AChR.