Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Science - BIOCEV, Charles University, Vestec u Prahy, Czech Republic.
Metallomics. 2020 Sep 23;12(9):1335-1347. doi: 10.1039/d0mt00125b.
It is well known that iron is a crucial micronutrient for all living organisms. Due to its chemical properties, iron is an irreplaceable cofactor of many essential enzymes but is also potentially toxic when present in excess. The acquisition of iron from the environment can be challenging for organisms, especially for parasitic protists that rely solely on the host for available nutrients. One of the host defense mechanisms is to starve parasites by detaining the crucial iron in a form unreachable for pathogens. In this review, we summarize current information about iron homeostasis-related pathways of important human parasites, such as Plasmodium, trypanosomes, Leishmania, pathogenic amoebas and Trichomonas. We focus on the parasites' strategies of iron acquisition, storage/detoxification, trafficking, and iron-regulated protein expression and address the questions of iron-influenced virulence and anti-parasitic chemotherapeutics targeted to iron metabolism. Finally, we outline the potential of understudied and somewhat neglected iron chelating agents as safe chemotherapeutics against protozoan parasites.
众所周知，铁是所有生物的重要微量元素。由于其化学性质，铁是许多必需酶的不可替代的辅因子，但当过量存在时也具有潜在毒性。生物体从环境中获取铁可能具有挑战性，特别是对于仅依赖宿主获取可用营养物质的寄生原生动物。宿主防御机制之一是通过将关键铁以宿主无法获得的形式扣留来使寄生虫挨饿。在这篇综述中，我们总结了有关重要人类寄生虫（如疟原虫、锥虫、利什曼原虫、致病性阿米巴虫和滴虫）中铁稳态相关途径的最新信息。我们专注于寄生虫获取铁、储存/解毒、运输以及铁调节蛋白表达的策略，并探讨了铁影响毒力和针对铁代谢的抗寄生虫化学疗法的问题。最后，我们概述了一些研究较少且有些被忽视的铁螯合剂作为针对原生动物寄生虫的安全化学疗法的潜力。
