Forging a field: the golden age of iron biology

NC Andrews - Blood, The Journal of the American Society of …, 2008 - ashpublications.org
Blood, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, 2008ashpublications.org
Oh what a difference a decade makes! In a landmark paper published in 1996, Feder and
colleagues identified the long-sought gene mutated in patients with classical hereditary
hemochromatosis. In many ways, this seemed to ignite an explosion in iron biology which,
over the next 10 years, led to a remarkably detailed (though still incomplete) understanding
of the pathophysiology of hemochromatosis. Many discoveries critical for understanding iron
homeostasis, however, were kindled by earlier work dating back half a century and more …
Oh what a difference a decade makes! In a landmark paper published in 1996, Feder and colleagues identified the long-sought gene mutated in patients with classical hereditary hemochromatosis. In many ways, this seemed to ignite an explosion in iron biology which, over the next 10 years, led to a remarkably detailed (though still incomplete) understanding of the pathophysiology of hemochromatosis. Many discoveries critical for understanding iron homeostasis, however, were kindled by earlier work dating back half a century and more. This review will emphasize advances made between the birth of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 1958 and the present. In the early part of that period, ferrokinetic studies provided important insights into human iron homeostasis in vivo (reviewed in Finch et al1). More recently, modern molecular biology and genetic studies of model organisms have extended our knowledge of normal iron biology and led to detailed understanding of human iron disorders. Ironically, a comprehensive review on iron metabolism appeared in Blood exactly 50 years ago, describing a current state of knowledge that was viewed as quite complete at the time. 2 Adding to the irony, that author, Hugh Josephs (another pediatric hematologist), had 54 journal pages and I only have 12!
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