Current progress of iron metabolism and tumor development / 医学研究生学报

ABSTRACT

Iron is an essential nutrient that not only participates in cell oxidative phosphorylation, DNA synthesis and replication, but also regulates cancer associated genes through hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF).In the process of cancerization, cells change the way of iron metabolism resulting in a high consumption of iron.In this case, pathways of iron acquisition, efflux, storage and regulation are perturbed.Therefore, iron can significantly contribute to tumor growth, cell survival and metastasis.In this paper, we summarize the iron changes in cancer cells and the relationship between the changes and tumorigenesis.We also briefly state the potential problems of current clinical using iron chelating agents in oncotherapy.Targeting iron metabolic pathways may provide new tools for cancer prognosis and therapy.