The features of hemochromatosis include cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, hypermelanotic pigmentation of the skin, and heart failure. Since hemochromatosis is a relatively easily treated disorder if diagnosed, this is a form of preventable cancer. The HFE protein, which is defective in hereditary hemo-chromatosis, normally is expressed in crypt enterocytes of the duodenum where it has a unique, predominantly intracellular localization. In placenta, the HFE protein co-localizes with and forms