Association of HFE Gene Mutations With Liver Cirrhosis Depends on Induction of Iron Homeostasis Disturbances

I read with the interest the paper by jowkar et al. published in a recent issue of hepatitis monthly (1). the authors analysed the frequency of two hfe gene mutations in iranian patients with a diagnosis of cryptogenic cirrhosis. in europe, north america and australia the homozygous c282y mutation of the hfe gene is a major etiological factor associated with the pathogenesis of progressive iron accumulation leading to multiorgan disfunction, as it is observed in hereditary hemochromatosis. about 5% of hereditary hemochromatosis cases in the caucasian population are related to compound heterozygosity for c282y and h63d mutations (2).