生体鉄代謝調節の分子機構

Molecular mechanism of regulation in iron-metabolism

鉄は生体の恒常性の維持にとって必須の微量元素である一方で，鉄が生体内に過剰に存在すると，活性酸素種の産生を介して毒性を発揮する．このため，生体内の鉄動態は厳密に調節される必要がある．近年，この生体内鉄動態の調節機構が分子レベルで解明されつつある．生体内鉄動態を制御する主要なメディエーターはヘプシジンである．最近になって，このヘプシジンの産生量が体内鉄量，低酸素およびBMP6/GDF15/TWSG1などの液性因子によって変動することが明らかとなってきた．本稿では，生体鉄代謝の調節因子についての最近の知見を概説する．

Although iron is an essential element for maintaining homeostasis of the living body, excess iron accumulation induces cellular toxicity via production of reactive oxygen species.　Therefore, iron level and dynamics in the body should be strictly regulated.　Recently, multiple molecules were identified as regulatory factors for iron metabolism.　Among these, hepcidin has been regarded as a key mediator to control iron dynamics.　More recently, several factors such as iron level, oxygen tension, BMP6/GDF15/TWSG1 were found to regulate hepcidin production.　Since then, the level of hepcidin as well as those of related molecules should be useful to understand comprehensively the whole body iron dynamics.　In this review, we summarized the recent advance of molecular iron metabolism.