Hepcidin as a marker of iron stores in oral submucous fibrosis

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a chronic debilitating disease of the oral cavity having a high malignant potential. Iron deficiency is concomitant with OSMF and is supposedly to be a contributing factor toward dysplastic changes in OSMF. Hence, it is imperative that the iron stores in patients with OSMF is correctly assessed and corrected. The available methods to assess iron stores, namely serum ferritin, transferrin saturation, and total iron binding capacity are inconsistent. Hepcidin is an iron regulatory protein which gives hindsight to the physiology of iron metabolism. This article explores the various dimensions of the molecule hepcidin and attempts to establish a link between OSMF and serum hepcidin.