A team of researchers from Inserm in Toulouse started from the observation that the metabolism of men and women does not absorb iron in the same way, which can cause serious problems, especially in men. The good news is that a drug used to treat some lung cancers can be used to help some of these conditions.
Indeed, “chronic liver disease, like hepatitis C, associated with a reduced ability to produce hepcidin – a hormone that inhibits the absorption of iron by the duodenum -, are often more severe in men than in women “, explain the researchers in a press release. these mechanisms, the Inserm team conducted a study, published by the journal Hepatology, in male and female mice with an iron metabolism disorder.
“Researchers have shown that testosterone was a potent repressor hepcidin in these mice because, in the liver, it activates the receptors for a growth factor, EGF “, Inserm notes. By continuing the research, scientists have noticed that” the castration of mice males is accompanied not only by an increase in hepcidin but also by a very marked reduction in cardiac and pancreatic iron overload in these mice. “
These results indicate that by administering a drug used in the treatment of certain lung cancers to patients who are unable to produce sufficient hepcidin, it would prevent iron overload from worsening the prognosis of the disease. .
