Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent neoplasms and a major cause of cancer death worldwide. Despite recent advances in treatment approaches, the prognosis of advanced CRC remains poor, thus indicating the necessity of more effective treatments for CRC patients. CRC cells produce high levels of hepcidin, a peptide hormone that binds to the membrane-bound ferroportin and promotes its internalization and degradation, thus sequestering iron into the cancer cells with the downstream effect of enhancing tumor growth. Additionally, CRC cell-expressed hepcidin prolongs cell survival and, by targeting both CD8+ T cells and myeloid cells, restrains the induction of an efficient immune response against tumor antigens. The greatest expression of hepcidin is found in patients with metastatic CRC, and CRC patients with high hepcidin content have a worse survival rate than those with low hepcidin content. In the present article, we review the data supporting the prominent role of hepcidin in colon tumorigenesis and discuss how hepcidin inhibitors can help treat CRC patients in the metastatic setting with particular regard to the impact of hepcidin modulation on immunotherapeutic outcomes.
结直肠癌是全球范围内最常见的恶性肿瘤之一，也是癌症死亡的主要原因。尽管治疗方法近期取得进展，晚期结直肠癌的预后仍然较差，这表明有必要为结直肠癌患者寻求更有效的治疗方案。结直肠癌细胞会大量产生铁调素，这种肽类激素可与膜结合型铁转运蛋白结合，促进其内化和降解，从而将铁隔离在癌细胞内部，进而增强肿瘤生长。此外，结直肠癌细胞表达的铁调素能延长细胞存活时间，并通过靶向CD8+ T细胞和髓系细胞，抑制针对肿瘤抗原的有效免疫应答。转移性结直肠癌患者的铁调素表达水平最高，且铁调素含量高的结直肠癌患者生存率低于铁调素含量低的患者。本文综述了支持铁调素在结肠肿瘤发生中重要作用的数据，并探讨了铁调素抑制剂如何帮助治疗转移性结直肠癌患者，特别关注铁调素调节对免疫治疗结果的影响。
Hepcidin Is a Valuable Therapeutic Target for Colorectal Cancer
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家