The importance of iron in pathophysiologic conditions

• Autor(a) principal: Gozzelino, Raffaella
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Arosio, Paolo
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.7/397
• topic: iron; iron metabolism; iron and genetic disorders; iron deficiency and anemia; iron and inflammation; iron and cardiotoxicity; iron and neurodegeneration; heme iron

Biological iron is necessary for vital functions and also potentially toxic to the organisms. This dual effect raised the interest of many investigators to study the mechanisms controlling its homeostasis that are altered in many pathologic conditions. Recently the understanding of iron metabolism significantly improved with the discovery of genes responsible for genetic disorders, such as hemochromatosis, the IRE/IRPs machinery and the hepcidin-ferroportin axis, which allowed to elucidate the basis of cellular and systemic iron homeostasis. In addition, these advances disclosed a causal link between deregulation of iron homeostasis, inflammation and oxidative stress, often induced by the iron accumulation that is commonly observed in many pathologic conditions.