The role of HFE genotype in macrophage phenotype.

Background: Iron regulation is essential for cellular energy production. Loss of cellular iron homeostasis has critical implications for both normal function and disease progression. The H63D variant of the HFE gene is the most common gene variant in Caucasians.

HFE Genotype Restricts the Response to Paraquat in a Mouse Model of Neurotoxicity.

Parkinson's disease is marked clinically by motor dysfunction and pathologically by dopaminergic cell loss in the substantia nigra and iron accumulation in the substantia nigra. The driver underlying iron accumulation remains unknown and could be genetic or environmental. The HFE protein is critical for the regulation of cellular iron uptake.

Preferential Iron Trafficking Characterizes Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells.

Glioblastomas display hierarchies with self-renewing cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). RNA sequencing and enhancer mapping revealed regulatory programs unique to CSCs causing upregulation of the iron transporter transferrin, the top differentially expressed gene compared with tissue-specific progenitors. Direct interrogation of iron uptake demonstrated that CSCs potently extract iron from the microenvironment more effectively than other tumor cells.

Comparative evaluation of nephrotoxicity and management by macrophages of intravenous pharmaceutical iron formulations.

Background: There is a significant clinical need for effective treatment of iron deficiency. A number of compounds that can be administered intravenously have been developed. This study examines how the compounds are handled by macrophages and their relative potential to provoke oxidative stress.