Excess Iron in Kidney Exacerbates Kidney Injury

Newswise — Article title: Renal specific loss of Ferroportin disrupts iron homeostasis and attenuates recovery from acute kidney injury.

Authors: Abdul Soofi, Vivie Li, Jeffrey A. Beamish, Sham Abdrabh, Mawieh Hamad, Nupur K. Das, Yatrik M. Shah, and Gregory R. Dressler

From the authors: “We demonstrate that disruption of iron homeostasis by deletion of [ferroportin] in renal proximal tubule cells does not directly impact kidney function but sensitizes the kidney to acute injury and cell death due to ferroptosis. Given that iron supplementation is often used to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease, the implication of our study point to the need to precisely control iron levels so that iron overload does not exacerbate the progression towards end stage renal failure.”

This study is highlighted as one of January’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society's APSselect program.