Expression of serum BMP6 and hepcidin in cancer-related anemia

Objective: To study the function of human bone morphogenetic protein-6 (BMP6) and hepcidin in cancer-related anemia. Methods: The levels of Hemoglobin (Hb), serum C-reactive protein (CRP), BMP6, hepcidin and ferritin (SF) were measured in 115 patients with solid tumors, who were divided into elevated CRP group and normal CRP group, and further divided into anemia subgroup and non-anemia subgroup according to the CRP level. Results: The prevalence of anemia was 53.9% in all patients. In the elevated CRP group, the levels of CRP, hepcidin and SF of the anemia subgroup were higher than the non-anemia subgroup (P < 0.05); the BMP6 levels had no difference between the subgroups (P > 0.05). In the normal CRP group, the BMP6 level in the anemia subgroup was higher than the non-anemia subgroup (P < 0.01); the CRP, hepcidin and SF levels showed no difference between the subgroups (P > 0.05). Among the 115 patients, CRP and SF were both positively correlated with hepcidin (P < 0.05), and CRP and hepcidin were negatively correlated with Hb (P < 0.05), while SF had no correlation with Hb (P > 0.05); BMP6 was negatively correlated with Hb (P < 0.05) while had no correlation with CRP, hepcidin and SF (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The occurrence of anemia in patients with elevated CRP is associated with hepcidin over-expression, while in patients with normal CRP is associated with BMP6 over-expression. We speculate BMP6 and hepcidin likely play different roles in the occurrence of cancer-related anemia.