FGF23 and anemia (phenotype): Del Balzo et al. (2020) quantified lower levels of hepcodon mRNA expression in the liver and higher levels of the iron transporter Slc11a2 and duodenal cytochrome b in the duodenum of a roxadustat-treated rat model of anemia induced by peptidoglycan-polysaccharide. These results suggested that the novel drug is superior to traditional ESA in easing functional iron deficiency in anemia models. Noonan et al. (2020) proposed the hypothesis of the relationship between iron utilization and fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23) production, a vital regulator of phosphate homeostasis.