In the context of myocarditis and MI, hepcidin is strongly induced in cardiomyocytes with elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines that may play an important role in iron homeostasis and free radical generation.109, 110, 111 Interestingly, cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of hepcidin did not improve cardiac repair and function. The gene discussed is HAMP; the disease is myocarditis.