hepcidin, a small cysteine-rich cationic peptide with antibacterial activity, secreted predominantly from hepatocytes [28–30] whose expression is regulated positively by body iron load/stores and inflammatory signals, chiefly IL-6, and suppressed by hypoxia and anemia [30, 38, 51, 52, 60]. The gene discussed is IL6; the disease is anemia (phenotype).