Hamp-KO Mouse

Hamp, also known as Hepcidin antimicrobial peptide, is a gene encoding a peptide hormone crucial for regulating systemic iron homeostasis [1,4,5,6]. It binds to ferroportin, an iron exporter, leading to its internalization and degradation, thus controlling the concentration of ferroportin on the cell surface and completing an iron-regulating homeostatic loop [5].

In gastric cancer, high HAMP expression is associated with poor overall survival and is related to sex, tumor stage, and immune cell infiltration levels, suggesting it may serve as an independent prognostic biomarker through the immune pathway [1]. In non-small cell lung cancer, HAMP promotes cell proliferation, invasion, and migration by activating the NF-κB pathway, and this is negatively modulated by miR-873-5p [2]. In hepatocellular carcinoma, HAMP shows potential as a diagnostic, PD-(L)1 immunotherapy sensitivity, and prognostic biomarker, being positively correlated with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint expression [3]. In type 2 diabetes, epigenetic changes in HAMP may be an early marker, with decreased expression in diabetes-prone mice due to increased DNA methylation [6].

In conclusion, Hamp plays a vital role in iron metabolism and is associated with multiple diseases such as gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and type 2 diabetes. Research on Hamp, including through gene-based models, helps to understand the underlying mechanisms of these diseases and may provide new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.