Iron homeostasis: fitting the puzzle pieces together.
Here, recent insights into iron homeostasis are highlighted. Three studies demonstrate the importance of the IRE-IRP system for enterocytes in balancing extracellular iron demand against cellular iron requirements, show that the hemochromatosis protein HFE exerts its iron-regulatory activity principally in hepatocytes by modulating the production of hepcidin, and provide strong support for a proposed mechanism of transcriptional regulation of hepcidin through a signaling cascade initiated by holotransferrin displacing HFE from transferrin receptor 1.
Ganz
Tomas
T
Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1690, USA. tganz@mednet.ucla.edu
D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D006432:Hemochromatosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000071020:Hemochromatosis Protein; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D064451:Hepcidins; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000378:metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin / Q000378:metabolism
D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; C578702:HAMP protein, human; C103673:HFE protein, human; D000071020:Hemochromatosis Protein; D064451:Hepcidins; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin; D007501:Iron