Alterations in Cellular Iron Metabolism Provide More Therapeutic Opportunities for Cancer

Iron is an essential element for the growth and proliferation of cells. Cellular iron uptake, storage, utilization and export are tightly regulated to maintain iron homeostasis. However, cellular iron metabolism pathways are disturbed in most cancer cells. To maintain rapid growth and proliferation,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2018-05, Vol.19 (5), p.1545
Main Authors: Zhou, Liangfu, Zhao, Bin, Zhang, Lixiu, Wang, Shenghang, Dong, Dandan, Lv, Huanhuan, Shang, Peng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use
Antioxidants - therapeutic use
Cancer
Cancer therapies
Cell proliferation
Homeostasis
Humans
Iron
Iron - metabolism
iron chelators
Metabolic pathways
Metabolism
Neoplasms - drug therapy
Neoplasms - metabolism
Oxidation-Reduction
Proteins
redox homeostasis
Review
targeted therapy
Therapeutic applications
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Summary:Iron is an essential element for the growth and proliferation of cells. Cellular iron uptake, storage, utilization and export are tightly regulated to maintain iron homeostasis. However, cellular iron metabolism pathways are disturbed in most cancer cells. To maintain rapid growth and proliferation, cancer cells acquire large amounts of iron by altering expression of iron metabolism- related proteins. In this paper, normal cellular iron metabolism and the alterations of iron metabolic pathways in cancer cells were summarized. Therapeutic strategies based on targeting the altered iron metabolism were also discussed and disrupting redox homeostasis by intracellular high levels of iron provides new insight for cancer therapy. Altered iron metabolism constitutes a promising therapeutic target for cancer therapy.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms19051545