Albertine Donker

Standardized Pediatric Hepcidin Values 251 7 In conclusion we provide age- and sex specific serum hepcidin values in healthy Dutch children as a first step to better elucidating the clinical utility of hepcidin in children with iron disorders. Our data suggest that the serum hepcidin set point relative to indicators of stored and circulating iron changes during human growth and development. Since we used a standardized hepcidin assay the age and sex specific values of our assay can be applied to all validated assays that are standardized using the same RM. This paves the way for future studies needed to better elucidate the clinical utility of hepcidin in children with iron disorders. Authorship Contribution: A.E.D. D.L.B. and D.W.S. designed the research. A.E.D. and D.L.B. coordinated the data collection. S. M.K. and C.L. performed the hepcidin analyses. A.E.D., D.L.B. T.E.G. and D.W.S. analyzed the data and interpreted the results. A.E.D. wrote the manuscript. Conflict-of-interest disclosure S.M.K, C.L, and D.W.S. are employees of Radboudumc that offers hepcidin assays and hepcidin reference material to the research, clinical and pharmaceutical community at a fee for service via the Hepcidinanalysis initiative (www.hepcidinanalysis.com ). 21 Acknowledgements The authors kindly thank the nurses of the pediatric day care unit of the Máxima MC, Veldhoven, the Netherlands (MMC) for including the subjects and ensuring the informed consent procedure. We also thank the anesthesiologists of the MMC who performed the blood withdrawals for the study.