HFE and colon carcinoma: It was proposed that Hfe may act to control iron release or iron uptake in cells since expression of HFE protein in HT29 human colon carcinoma cells, THP-1 cells, or in monocytes derived from HFE-HH patients inhibited iron release from the cells and resulted in increased iron accumulation without affecting iron uptake (Montosi et al., 2000; Drakesmith et al., 2002; Davies and Enns, 2004).