Fig. 2

Therapeutic opportunities of targeting iron metabolism in leukemia cells. Iron deprivation by iron chelators or targeting iron metabolism related proteins induces differentiation, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in leukemia cells. The generation of ROS is involved in the process of inducing cell differentiation. Iron chelators also play anti-leukemia roles through iron-independently regulating multiple signaling pathways or restoring GVL. ADCC is also involved in the anti-leukemia effect of targeting iron metabolism related proteins. Iron metabolism related proteins-targeted delivery systems or iron-based nanoparticles can selectively deliver therapeutic agents into leukemia cells to play enhanced anti-leukemia activity. Furthermore, iron-based nanoparticles elevate iron-catalyzed ROS levels, leading to increased cytotoxicity. Ferroptosis inducers perturb redox balance based on the high intracellular iron levels to induce ferroptosis in leukemia cells