Erythroferrone (ERFE) is a glycoprotein hormone secreted by erythroblasts in response to erythropoietin stimulation. ERFE suppresses the hepatic synthesis of the master iron‐regulatory hormone, hepcidin. The impact of erythropoiesis stimulation on ERFE secretion in humans is poorly understood. This paucity of information is due in part to the lack of available means for ERFE quantification in serum samples. The present study tested a new sensitive sandwich immunoassay for human ERFE. This assay was used to demonstrate that injection of various erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) increased the blood ERFE levels in healthy volunteers. After exogenous stimulation of erythropoiesis, ERFE increased up to 8‐fold with a detection window of 13 days. The impact of one unit of blood withdrawal on erythropoiesis stimulation of ERFE was also tested. ERFE significantly increased after blood withdrawal in subjects injected with both iron and saline solution, suggesting that iron supplementation did not mask the ERFE increase after blood withdrawal. The effects of exercise‐induced muscle damage on ERFE was assessed by comparing ERFE levels with creatine kinase levels in samples from subjects with heavy exercise loads, and determined that this was not a confounder. The ERFE assay is a sensitive means to investigate the connection between iron metabolism and erythropoiesis in humans, and to detect ESA abuse in the antidoping field.

中文翻译：

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赤藓铁酮作为检测红细胞生成刺激的敏感生物标志物。

Erothroferrone（ERFE）是促红细胞生成素响应促红细胞生成素刺激而分泌的糖蛋白激素。ERFE抑制肝脏中主要铁调节激素hepcidin的合成。促红细胞生成刺激对人类ERFE分泌的影响知之甚少。这种信息的缺乏部分是由于缺乏血清样品中ERFE定量的可用手段。本研究测试了一种针对人ERFE的新型灵敏夹心免疫测定法。该测定用于证明注射各种促红细胞生成剂（ESA）可增加健康志愿者的血液ERFE水平。外源性促红细胞生成刺激后，ERFE增加至8倍，检测窗口为13天。还测试了单位抽血对ERFE的促红细胞生成刺激的影响。注射铁和盐溶液的受试者在抽血后ERFE显着增加，这表明补铁并不能掩盖抽血后ERFE的增加。通过比较运动量大的受试者样本中的ERFE水平与肌酸激酶水平，评估了运动诱发的肌肉损伤对ERFE的影响，并确定这不是混杂因素。ERFE测定法是研究人体内铁代谢与促红细胞生成之间联系以及检测反兴奋剂领域中ESA滥用的灵敏手段。通过比较运动量大的受试者样本中的ERFE水平与肌酸激酶水平，评估了运动诱发的肌肉损伤对ERFE的影响，并确定这不是混杂因素。ERFE测定法是研究人体内铁代谢与促红细胞生成之间联系以及检测反兴奋剂领域中ESA滥用的灵敏手段。通过比较运动量大的受试者样本中的ERFE水平与肌酸激酶水平，评估了运动诱发的肌肉损伤对ERFE的影响，并确定这不是混杂因素。ERFE测定法是研究人体内铁代谢与促红细胞生成之间联系以及检测反兴奋剂领域中ESA滥用的灵敏手段。