Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Aug 26, 2015; 6(3): 78-82
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i3.78
Is erythroferrone finally the long sought-after systemic erythroid regulator of iron?
Alfons Lawen
Alfons Lawen, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
Author contributions: Lawen A solely contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Alfons Lawen, Rer, Nat, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia. alfons.lawen@monash.edu
Telephone: +61-3-99053711 Fax: +61-3-99029500
Received: January 27, 2015
Peer-review started: January 28, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: April 20, 2015
Accepted: May 16, 2015
Article in press: May 18, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Processing time: 211 Days and 3 Hours
Abstract

Iron metabolism is regulated on the cellular and the systemic level. Over the last decade, the liver peptide “hepcidin” has emerged as the body’s key irons store regulator. The long postulated “erythroid regulator of iron”, however, remained elusive. Last year, evidence was provided, that a previously described myokine “myonectin” may also function as the long sought erythroid regulator of iron. Myonectin was therefore re-named “erythroferrone”. This editorial provides a brief discussion on the two functions of erythroferrone and also briefly considers the emerging potential role of transferrin receptor 2 in erythropoiesis.

Keywords: Erythroid regulator of iron; Hepcidin; Iron metabolism; Myonectin; Systemic iron regulation

Core tip: Iron metabolism is regulated on the cellular and the systemic level. Over the last decade, the small, 25-amino-acid liver peptide “hepcidin” has emerged as the body’s key irons store regulator. The long postulated “erythroid regulator of iron”, however, remained elusive. Several candidates have been suggested in the literature, however all had to be dismissed. Last year, evidence was provided, that erythroferrone, a previously described myokine, may also function as the long sought erythroid regulator of iron. While erythroferrone appears to be an important iron regulator for erythropoiesis, transferrin receptor 2 also emerges as a player in this regulation.