Affiliations: [a] Department of Biology and Program in Medical Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA | [b] The University of British Columbia, Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research, Vancouver, B.C., Canada | [x] The University of British Columbia, Kinsmen Laboratory of Neurological Research, Vancouver, BC, Canada | [y] Sir James McCusker Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, University of Western Australia, Hollywood Private Hospital, 115 Monash Avenue, Nedlands, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: E.D. Weinberg, Jordan Hall 142, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. Tel.: +1 812 336 5556; Fax: +1 812 855 6705; E-mail: eweinber@indiana.edu.
Abstract: Excessive and misplaced iron promotes an array of neurodegenerative and endocrine diseases as well as cardiomyopathy, arthropathy, neoplasia and infection. Vertebrates maintain an iron withholding defense system designed to prevent accumulation of redox-active (free) iron in sensitive sites and to sequester the metal in innocuous packages. Numerous genetic, behavioral and environmental factors counteract the defense system. Our increasing awareness of the pathologic roles of iron, as well as of the methods for prevention of iron loading coupled with intensified research and development of tissue specific iron chelator drugs, can be expected to yield marked improvements in human health.
