Patent ID: 7416857

Claim:
A diagnostic method, comprising determining a concentration of hepcidin in a bodily fluid sample from a subject suspected of having a disorder selected from the group consisting of an inflammatory chronic disease and a non-inflammatory chronic disease, wherein an increase in hepcidin concentration in the bodily fluid sample relative to a threshold hepcidin concentration indicates an inflammatory chronic disease in the subject and distinguishes the disorder from a non-inflammatory chronic disease, and wherein lack of an increase in hepcidin concentration in the bodily fluid sample relative to a threshold concentration indicates an inflammatory chronic disease is not present in the subject , and further comprising determining a concentration of homocysteine in a bodily fluid sample from the subject, wherein an increase in homocysteine concentration in the bodily fluid sample relative to a threshold homocysteine concentration indicates a non-inflammatory chronic disease in the subject, and wherein lack of an increase in homocysteine concentration in the bodily fluid sample relative to a threshold homocysteine concentration indicates a non-inflammatory chronic disease is not present in the subject.