Ferritin and ceruloplasmin in oxidative damage: review and recent findings.

The oxidation of biomolecules such as lipid, protein, and DNA is associated with a variety of toxicities and pathologies. In an all-encompassing definition these oxidative processes have been referred to as "oxidative stress." Although the direct reaction between molecular oxygen and most biomolecules is spin forbidden, this reaction can be efficiently catalyzed by transition metals such as iron and copper. Iron especially has been demonstrated to be a potent catalyst of biological oxidations. This review focuses on the relationship between iron and copper with respect to the copper protein ceruloplasmin, which may play a role in iron homeostasis by catalyzing the oxidation of iron as it is placed in ferritin.