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Research progress on NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy and related disease

JIA Chen¹, LIN Hong-Ji², CUI Fang³, LU Rui², ZHANG Yi-Ting⁴, PENG Zhi-Qin⁵, SHI Min^1,6,*

¹Department of Clinical Laboratory, the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, China；²College of Basic Medical Sciences, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, China；³Core Facilities and Centers, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050017, China；⁴College of Medical Technology, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050031, China；⁵Hebei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050011, China；⁶Hebei Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050000, China

Abstract

Nuclear receptor co-activator 4 (NCOA4) acts as a selective cargo receptor that binds to ferritin, a cytoplasmic iron storage complex. By mediating ferritinophagy, NCOA4 regulates iron metabolism and releases free iron in the body, thus playing a crucial role in a variety of biological processes, including growth, development, and metabolism. Recent studies have shown that NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy is closely associated with the occurrence and development of iron metabolism-related diseases, such as liver fibrosis, renal cell carcinoma, and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, a number of clinical drugs have been identified to modulate NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy, significantly affecting disease progression and treatment efficacy. This paper aims to review the current research progress on the role of NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy in related diseases, in order to provide new ideas for targeted clinical therapy.

Key words: nuclear receptor co-activator 4 (NCOA4); ferritinophagy; disease; drugs

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 史敏　　E-mail:

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2025.0017

Citing This Article：

JIA Chen, LIN Hong-Ji, CUI Fang, LU Rui, ZHANG Yi-Ting, PENG Zhi-Qin, SHI Min. Research progress on NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy and related disease. Acta Physiol Sin 2025; 77 (1): 194-208 (in Chinese with English abstract).