Iron acquisition is a fundamental requirement for many aspects of life, but excess
iron may result in formation of
free radicals that damage cellular constituents. For this reason, the amount of
iron within the cell is carefully regulated in order to provide an adequate level of a
micronutrient while preventing its accumulation and toxicity. A major mechanism for the regulation of
iron homeostasis relies on the post-transcriptional control of
ferritin and
transferrin receptor mRNAs, which are recognized by two cytoplasmic
iron regulatory proteins (IRP-1 and IRP-2) that modulate their translation and stability, respectively.
IRP-1 can function as a
mRNA binding protein or as an
aconitase, depending on whether it disassembles or assembles an
iron-
sulfur cluster in response to
iron deficiency or abundancy, respectively. IRP-2 is structurally and functionally similar to
IRP-1, but does not assemble a cluster nor exhibits
aconitase activity. Here we briefly review the role of IRP in
iron-mediated damage induced by
oxygen radicals,
nitrogen-centered reactive species, and
xenobiotics of pharmacological and clinical interest.