Evaluation of new iron chelators and their therapeutic potential

One of the most important challenges for biological inorganic chemistry is to understand metal ion homeostasis, particularly since we are becoming increasingly aware that its disequilibrium is at the basis of a large number of clinical disorders. It is, therefore, also an important objective of our research to seek solutions, which can alleviate the consequences of the perturbation of the homeostasis of key metal ions within cells, tissues and organisms. Iron is one of the key metals in biology, for which disorders of homeostasis are implicated in a vast panoply of pathological conditions. We review here the ways in which potential iron chelators can be evaluated, using appropriate in vivo or in vitro screening systems, and discuss their potential applications in the chelation of both iron and aluminium in the treatment of a number of human diseases. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.