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CANCER NANOMEDICINE

Winning the war with iron

Nature Nanotechnology volume 14, pages 499–500 (2019)Cite this article

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An FDA-approved iron oxide nanoparticle used for the treatment of anaemia can be repurposed for leukaemia therapy.

Iron is both essential and potentially toxic. In humans, iron is required for oxygen transport by haemoglobin and the activity of proteins that catalyse reactions involved in respiration, DNA repair, DNA synthesis, free-radical detoxification and many other essential processes1. However, owing to its ability to redox-cycle, iron can also foster the formation of toxic radical species through participation in Fenton chemistry and other chemical reactions that generate reactive oxygen and nitrogen species harmful to DNA, proteins and lipids2. These dual properties of iron require that it be tightly regulated, both at the systemic and cellular level: that is, that cells have neither too much nor too little iron, and that iron is presented in a non-reactive chemical form. Among the proteins that regulate systemic and cellular iron, three play pivotal roles in maintaining this critical iron balance: transferrin, a circulating glycoprotein that binds two atoms of iron and serves as an iron delivery vehicle; transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1), which is displayed on the cell surface and binds to transferrin to enable iron import; and ferroportin (FPN), an iron efflux pump that delivers iron from cells to the circulation.

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Fig. 1: Proposed mechanism by which ferumoxytol induces selective cell death in leukaemic cells that express low levels of FPN.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Suzy V. Torti

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Frank M. Torti

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  1. Suzy V. Torti
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  2. Frank M. Torti
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Correspondence to Suzy V. Torti or Frank M. Torti.

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Torti, S.V., Torti, F.M. Winning the war with iron. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 499–500 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0419-9

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