Iron deficiency is considered the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide and affects children and women in both non-industrialized as well as industrialized countries. The main regulatory molecule of iron metabolism is hepcidin, a hormone produced in the liver that regulates intestinal iron absorption, placental transport, recycling of iron by macrophages and release from stores. The expression of hepcidin is regulated by many mediators, one of which is Matriptase-2 - a transmembrane protease. Complete loss of function leads to the rare disease iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA). Matriptase-2 is encoded by the gene TMPRSS6 and the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs855791 causes a non-synonymous substitution (V736A) that reduces the activity of the protease to inhibit hepcidin transcription. Genome wide association studies have identified the TMPRSS6 SNP rs855791 has a strong association with red blood cell and iron parameters in the general population.