Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 2, 2025

Ferritinophagy: Assessing the Selective Degradation of Iron by Autophagy in Human Fibroblasts
Published on: February 23, 2024
Ferritinophagy in the etiopathogenic mechanism of related diseases
Xuemei Jin1, Chunjie Jiang2, Zhizhou Zou1
1Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Yanbian University, Yanji, China; Department of Clinical Nutrition, Guangzhou Institute of Disease-Oriented Nutritional Research, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract:
Iron is an essential trace element that is involved in a variety of physiological processes. Ferritinophagy is selective autophagy mediated by nuclear receptor coactivator 4 (NCOA4), which regulates iron homeostasis in the body. Upon iron depletion or starvation, ferritinophagy is activated, releasing large amounts of Fe2+ and increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to ferroptosis. This plays a significant role in the etiopathogenesis of many diseases, such as metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, infectious diseases, tumors, cardiomyopathy, and ischemia-reperfusion ischemia-reperfusion injury. Here, we first review the regulation and functions of ferritinophagy and then describe its involvement in different diseases, with hopes of providing new understanding and insights into iron metabolism and iron disorder-related diseases and the therapeutic opportunity for targeting ferritinophagy.
Related Concept Videos
Necrosis
Morphological Manifestations of Necrosis
Necrotic cells show different types of morphological appearance depending on the type of tissue and infection. In coagulative necrosis, cells become...
The Early Endosome: Endocytosis of Transferrin
Translation
Translation is the process of synthesizing proteins from the genetic information carried by messenger RNA (mRNA). Following transcription, it constitutes the final step in the expression of genes. This process is carried out by ribosomes, complexes of protein and specialized RNA molecules. Ribosomes, transfer RNA (tRNA), and other proteins produce a chain of amino acids—the polypeptide—as the end product of translation.
Translation Produces the Building Blocks of...
Lysosomal Hydrolases
Autophagy
An autophagic pathway consists of a series of signaling events activated in response to diverse stress and physiological conditions such as food deprivation,...
Microbial Nutrition

