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Updated: Dec 9, 2025

Author Spotlight: Assessing the Impact of Novel Iron Chelators on Cancer Cell Metabolism
Published on: February 23, 2024
Iron and Cancer: 2020 Vision
1Department of Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut. storti@uchc.edu.
Abstract:
New and provocative insights into the relationships between iron and cancer have been uncovered in recent years. These include delineation of connections that link cellular iron to DNA repair, genomic integrity, and oncogenic signaling as well as the discovery of ferroptosis, a novel iron-dependent form of cell death. In parallel, new molecules and pathways that regulate iron influx, intracellular iron trafficking, and egress in normal cells, and their perturbations in cancer have been discovered. In addition, insights into the unique properties of iron handling in tumor-initiating cells (cancer stem cells), novel contributions of the tumor microenvironment to the uptake and regulation of iron in cancer cells, and new therapeutic modalities that leverage the iron dependence of cancer have emerged.
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