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Reversing oncogenic transformation with iron chelation

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Oncotarget. 2021; 12:106-124. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27866

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Gina Abdelaal _ and Stephany Veuger

Abstract

Gina Abdelaal1 and Stephany Veuger1

1 Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Correspondence to:

Gina Abdelaal,email: gina.abdelaal@northumbria.ac.uk

Keywords: iron chelator; oncogenesis; selective cytotoxicity; hallmarks of cancer; NDRG1

Received: September 29, 2020     Accepted: December 16, 2020     Published: January 19, 2021

Copyright: © 2021 Abdelaal and Veuger. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ABSTRACT

Cancer cells accumulate iron to supplement their aberrant growth and metabolism. Depleting cells of iron by iron chelators has been shown to be selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Iron chelators are effective at combating a range of cancers including those which are difficult to treat such as androgen insensitive prostate cancer and cancer stem cells. This review will evaluate the impact of iron chelation on cancer cell survival and the underlying mechanisms of action. A plethora of studies have shown iron chelators can reverse some of the major hallmarks and enabling characteristics of cancer. Iron chelators inhibit signalling pathways that drive proliferation, migration and metastasis as well as return tumour suppressive signalling. In addition to this, iron chelators stimulate apoptotic and ER stress signalling pathways inducing cell death even in cells lacking a functional p53 gene. Iron chelators can sensitise cancer cells to PARP inhibitors through mimicking BRCAness; a feature of cancers trademark genomic instability. Iron chelators target cancer cell metabolism, attenuating oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis. Moreover, iron chelators may reverse the major characteristics of oncogenic transformation. Iron chelation therefore represent a promising selective mode of cancer therapy.



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