Iron as an important
element plays crucial roles in various physiological and
pathological processes.
Iron metabolism behaves in systemic and cellular two levels that usually are in balance conditions. The disorders of the
iron metabolism balances relate with many kinds of diseases including
Alzheimer's disease,
osteoporosis and various
cancers. In systemic
iron metabolism that is regulated by
hepcidin-
ferroportin axis, plasma
iron is bound with
transferrin (TF) which has two high-affinity binding sites for ferric
iron. The generic cellular
iron metabolism consists of
iron intake, utilization and efflux. During the
iron intake process in generic cells,
transferrin receptors (TFRs) act as the most important receptor mediated controls. TFR1 and TFR2 are two subtypes of TFRs those bind with
iron-
transferrin complex to facilitate
iron into cells. TFR1 is ubiquitously expressed on the surfaces of generic cells, whereas TFR2 is specially expressed in liver cells. TFR1 has attracted more attention than TFR2 by having diverse functions in both invertebrates and vertebrates. Recently reports showed that TFR1 involved in many kinds of diseases including
anemia,
neurodegenerative diseases and
cancers. Most importantly, TFR1 has been verified to be abnormally expressed in various
cancers. Some experimental and clinical drugs and
antibodies targeting TFR1 have showed strong anti-
tumor effects, herein TFR1 probably become a potential molecular target for diagnosis and treatment for
cancer therapy. This paper reviewed the research progresses of the roles of TFR1 in the
tumorigenesis and
cancer progression, the regulations of TFR1, and the
therapeutic effects of targeting TFR1 on many kinds of
cancers.