Fig. 4

Higher serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) compared to patients without cancer or infection. Serum of patients with RCC was analyzed for hepcidin and GDF-15 levels and compared to controls. Patients with RCC presented with increased (a) serum hepcidin (*p = 0.03) and (b) serum GDF-15 (**P = 0.0003) levels compared to controls. (c) The cohort was divided into the two subgroups of patients with and without metastases. Serum hepcidin levels are shown (**p ≤ 0.004). (d) Serum GDF-15 levels are depicted (***p ≤ 0.0001; **p ≤ 0.02)