Figure 3.

Counterregulation of hepcidin mRNA expression by TNF-α. Human hepatoma Hep3B cells were treated with 20 ng/ml of the indicated cytokine(s) with or without anti_IL-6 Ab's for 24 hours. Their hepcidin mRNA was then analyzed relative to G3PDH mRNA by qRT-PCR. In each experiment, the hepcidin mRNA was expressed as a ratio to that of untreated cells (0), and the mean and standard deviation of four experiments are shown. Paired Student's t test was used to determine the significance of the effects of TNF-α.