1. Iron and Diabetes Risk Cell Metabolism
Judith A. Simcox, Donald A. McClain 
Cell Metabolism 
Volume 17, Issue 3, Pages (March 2013)
DOI: /j.cmet
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

2. Figure 1 Overview of Iron Trafficking
Intestinal free ferric (Fe3+) iron is reduced to Fe2+ by DCTB and enters the cell through the divalent metal-ion transporter 1 (DMT1) and possibly other carriers. Dietary heme is directly absorbed and iron is released by heme oxygenase (HMOX). Iron exits the enterocyte through the iron export channel ferroportin (FPN). After oxidization by hephaestin (HEPH), iron binds in the bloodstream to transferrin (Tf), which binds to transferrin receptors 1 and 2 (TfR1 and TfR2) on the surface of target cells. In most cells, after endocytosis of TfR1 and acidification of the endosome, iron is released, reduced by STEAP, and through DMT1 enters the cytosol, where it is used (e.g., for heme or Fe-S-cluster synthesis in the mitochondrion) or, if in excess, sequestered by ferritin. Ferritin secreted into the blood serves as a marker for tissue iron stores. In the liver, Tf binds TfR2 and the protein HFE, and, in concert with signaling via GPI-anchored protein hemojuvelin (HJV), bone morphogenic proteins (BMP) and the SMAD signal transduction pathway, production of hepcidin is signaled. Hepcidin induces internalization and degradation of FPN, thus completing a negative feedback regulatory loop.
Cell Metabolism  , DOI: ( /j.cmet )
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions

3. Figure 2
Relative Risk of Diabetes as a Function of Ferritin or Dietary Iron Intake in Four Studies
Plotted are the relative risks from four studies (Bowers et al., 2011; Qiu et al., 2011; Ford and Cogswell, 1999; Jiang et al., 2004), with the comparator groups listed on the y axis.
Cell Metabolism  , DOI: ( /j.cmet )
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. Terms and Conditions