Metal Ion Transporters Identified in Recent Studies

The classical concept for iron uptake into mammalian cells has been the endocytosis of transferrin( $T_{f}$ )-bound F $e^{3+}$ via the $T_{f}$ - $T_{f}$ receptor cycle. In this case, we could not explain the uptake of F $e^{2＋}$ ion and the export of iron from endosome. Studies on iron transport revealed that other transport system exists in epithelial cells of the intestine. One of non- $T_{f}$ -receptor-mediated transport systems is Nramp2/DMT1/DCT1 which transports M $n^{＋＋}$, $Mg^{＋＋}$, Z $n^{＋＋}$, $Co^{＋＋}$, N $i^{＋＋}$ or C $u^{＋＋}$ ion as well as F $e^{+2}$ ion. DMT1 was cloned from intestines of iron-deficient rats and shown to be a hydrogen ion-coupled iron transporter and a protein regulated by absorbed dietary iron. DMT1 is founded in other cells such as cortical and hippocampal glial cells as well as endothelial cells in duodenum. Two F $e^{3+}$ ion bound to transferrin( $T_{f}$ ) are taken up via the $T_{f}$ - $T_{f}$ receptor cycle in the intestinal epithelial cell. F $e^{3+}$ in endosome was converted to F $e^{2＋}$ ion, and then exported to cytosol via DMT1. F $e^{2＋}$ ion is taken up into cytosol via DMT1. Several other transporters such as FET, FRE, CCC2, AFT1, SMF, FTR, ZER, ZIP, ZnT and CTR have been reported recently and dysfunction of the transporters are related with diseases containing Wilson's disease, Menkes disease and hemochromatosis. Evidences from several studies strongly suggest that DMT1 is the major transporter of iron in the intestine and functions critically in transport of other metal ions.

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