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Iron related disorders are encountered in daily clinical settings. Maintenance of stable extracellular iron concentrations requires the coordinate regulation of iron transport into plasma from dietary sources in the duodenum, from recycled senescent red cells in macrophages and from storage in hepatocytes. Hepcidin acts as a systemic iron-regulatory hormone. Many human diseases are associated with alterations in hepcidin concentrations. This review has focused on hepcidin structure, kinetics and function, its correlation with iron metabolism disorders, the therapeutic potential for modulating hepcidin expression and the diagnostic potential of hepcidin measurements in clinical practice.