Recent studies demonstrated that the kidney has the ability to express transferrin receptor-1 (Tf R1), divalent metal transporter-1 (DMT1), ferroportin-1 (FPN1), iron regulatory protein (IRP), hepcidin (Hepc) and other iron metabolism proteins. The existence of these proteins and the relevant studies about their functions suggested that the kidney might be an efficient way of eliminating excess iron, and therefore play an important role in human iron homeostasis.