The Role of Ferritin in Cancer

บทคัดย่อ

Ferritin is a major iron storage protein and necessary to iron homeostasis. Ferritin is glycoprotein synthesized by theliver organ. When the iron level in the body increases, ferritin can uptake and storage the iron avoiding the cytotoxicitycaused by the high level of free iron; when body needs more iron, ferritin can release iron at any time. Ferritin is concerned in a wide range of physiologic and pathologic processes such as iron delivery, proliferation, angiogenesis, immunosuppression, and cancer. In the situation of cancer, ferritin is highly expressed in tumor-associated macrophages which have been recently recognized as having critical roles in tumor promotion, tumor progression and chemoresistance. Moreover, ferritin is detected at higher levels in the many cancer patient serum, and the higher levels correlate with aggressive disease and poor clinical outcome. Importantly, Ferritin levels increase in breast cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia and others. In this paper, we focused onthe role of ferritin’s contributions to tumor progression and therapy resistance.