Speaking from the heart: systemic copper signaling.
Copper is a ubiquitously essential nutrient for cells. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Kim et al. (2010) demonstrate that tissue copper status can be communicated across organ systems. In a mouse model for cardiac copper deficiency, a serum-carried signal mobilized liver and intestinal copper by inducing ATP7A, a copper-exporting ATPase.
Culotta
Valeria
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Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, E7626, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. vculotta@jhsph.edu <vculotta@jhsph.edu>