Cited by 986Iron Metabolism and DisordersNeurological diseases and metabolismTrace Elements in Health

Regulation of cellular iron metabolism

Open access
Wang, Jian, Pantopoulos, Kostas·2011·Biochemical Journal

Abstract

Iron is an essential but potentially hazardous biometal. Mammalian cells require sufficient amounts of iron to satisfy metabolic needs or to accomplish specialized functions. Iron is delivered to tissues by circulating transferrin, a transporter that captures iron released into the plasma mainly from intestinal enterocytes or reticuloendothelial macrophages. The binding of iron-laden transferrin to the cell-surface transferrin receptor 1 results in endocytosis and uptake of the metal cargo. Internalized iron is transported to mitochondria for the synthesis of haem or iron-sulfur clusters, which are integral parts of several metalloproteins, and excess iron is stored and detoxified in cytosolic ferritin. Iron metabolism is controlled at different levels and by diverse mechanisms. The present review summarizes basic concepts of iron transport, use and storage and focuses on the IRE (iron-responsive element)/IRP (iron-regulatory protein) system, a well known post-transcriptional regulatory circuit that not only maintains iron homoeostasis in various cell types, but also contributes to systemic iron balance.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1042/bj20101825

Cites

208 of 208 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • IRPs regulate mRNAs of proteins required for iron utilization, uptake and export; DMT1 mRNA has an IRE in its 3' UTR and is upregulated by iron deficiency, while erythroid 5-aminolevulanata synthase and FPN1 have IREs in their 5' UTR and are upregulated under high iron conditions.

    “IRPs, in addition to modulating ferritin and TfR1 levels can regulate the mRNAs or other proteins required for iron utilization (erythroid 5-aminolevulanata synthase), iron uptake (DMT1) and export (FPN1).DMT1 mRNA has IRE in its 3 ' UTR and is upregulated by iron deficiency while the other two proteins have IREs in their 5 ' UTR and are therefore upregulated under high iron conditions”

    From Iron, Oxidative Stress and Health (2012) · cites this paper as Wang and Pantopoulos, 2011

    Split into 2 atoms — 1 confirmed, 1 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • When iron concentration is high, IRPs are inactivated, resulting in degradation of TfR1 mRNA while translation of ferritin mRNA occurs, minimizing iron uptake and promoting storage.

    “Conversely, when iron concentration is high, IRPs are inactivated resulting in degradation of TfR1 mRNA while translation of ferritin mRNA occurs.Thus when iron levels exceed the cellular needs, the IRE/IRP switch minimizes iron uptake and promotes iron storage”

    From Iron, Oxidative Stress and Health (2012) · cites this paper as Wang and Pantopoulos, 2011

  • When iron is depleted, IRE-IRP interaction at the 3' UTR of TfR1 stabilizes mRNA and blocks ferritin mRNA translation, upregulating TfR1 and inhibiting ferritin synthesis.

    “When iron is depleted, IRE-IRP interaction at the 3 ' UTR of TfR1 stabilizes mRNA, while imposing a steric blockade to ferritin mRNA translation.As a result, TfR1 is upregulated and stimulates acquisition of iron from plasma Tf to counteract low iron levels.Simultaneously ferritin synthesis is inhibited as storage of iron is not needed.”

    From Iron, Oxidative Stress and Health (2012) · cites this paper as Wang and Pantopoulos, 2011

  • In erythroid progenitor cells, TfR1 stability is uncoupled from iron supply and TfR1 level is transcriptionally regulated by erythroid active element in its promoter region.

    “However, in erythroid progenitor cells which require high amounts of iron for heme synthesis, TfR1 stability is uncoupled from iron supply and TfR1 level is transcriptionally regulated by erythroid active element in its promoter region (Wang and Pantopoulos, 2011).”

    From Iron, Oxidative Stress and Health (2012) · cites this paper as Wang and Pantopoulos, 2011

  • Misregulation of iron homoeostasis can cause neurotoxicity through different mechanisms.

    “Iron homoeostasis is needed to maintain normal physiological brain function, whereas misregulation of iron homoeostasis can cause neurotoxicity through different mechanisms.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Wang, J., & Pantopoulos, K.
Affiliations
Jewish General Hospital (CA)
Corresponding author
Pantopoulos, Kostas
Venue
Biochemical Journal
Published
2011-02-24
Volume
434
Issue
3
Pages
365-381
ISSN
  • 0264-6021 (ISSN-L)
  • 1470-8728
OpenAlex
W2158115535
Cited by
986
References
208
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 69 · 2021: 70 · 2020: 71 · 2019: 72 · 2018: 67 · 2017: 64 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 67 · 2014: 77 · 2013: 76 · 2012: 60
FWCI
10.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Biochemical Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-86514)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Iron Metabolism and Disorders
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological diseases and metabolism
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Trace Elements in Health
Keywords
iron homeostasis, transferrin, transferrin receptor 1, iron absorption, endocytosis, mitochondrial iron transport, haem synthesis, iron-sulfur clusters, ferritin, iron storage, post-transcriptional regulation
MeSH terms
Animals, Biological Transport, Ferritins, Humans, Iron, Mitochondria, Neoplasms, Oxidation-Reduction, RNA, Messenger, Transferrin, Response Elements, Iron-Regulatory Proteins

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review