Description
Deferiprone, the first oral iron chelator, was marketed in India for the
management of thalassaemia. Patients with thalassaemia, a blood related genetic
disorder, require life time transfusion which causes excessive deposition of iron in liver
and spleen, subsequent damage to organs and eventually death unless iron is removed
by a chelator. Deferiprone is a potent iron chelator that mobilizes excessive iron from
iron storage proteins ferritin and hemosiderin, from iron saturated transferrin and
lactoferrin, but not from hemoglobin. The deferiprone-iron complex is excreted in urine
and bile. Deferiprone was reportedly well accepted by patients and no hematological
toxicity was observed. Deferiprone has also been demonstrated as an effective and
safe chelator in the mobilization of aluminum.
Chemical Properties
White Needles
Uses
3-Hydroxy-1,2-dimethyl-4(1H)-pyridone (OH-pyridone) may be used in the bacterial killing assays. It has been employed as hydroxyketone chelating agent and its cytotoxic action against oral human normal and tumor cell lines has been evaluated.
Uses
A chelator that could replace disferrioxamine. It is orally and parenterally effective in the removal of iron in vivo from rabbits and mice and also from transferrin and ferritin in vitro
Uses
iron chelating agent
Definition
ChEBI: A member of the class of 4-pyridones that is pyridin-4(1H)-one substituted at positions 1 and 2 by methyl groups and at position 3 by a hydroxy group. A lipid-soluble iron-chelator used for treatment of thalassaemia.
General Description
3-Hydroxy-1,2-dimethyl-4(1H)-pyridone (Hdpp, Deferiprone) is a hydroxy ketone derivative. It reacts with uranyl salts [UO2(NO3)2] in aqueous acidic solution to afford mono nuclear complexes ([UO2(dpp)(Hdpp)2(H2O)]ClO4). X-ray studies have been conducted to examine the structure and geometry of these complexes.
Clinical Use
Orally administered chelator:
Treatment of transfusional iron overload
Drug interactions
Potentially hazardous interactions with other drugs
None known.
Metabolism
Deferiprone is hepatically metabolised to an inactive
glucuronide metabolite and is excreted mainly in the urine
as the metabolite and the iron-deferiprone complex, with
a small amount of unchanged drug.
References
1) Hider and Hoffbrand (2018),?The Role of Deferiprone in Iron Chelation; N. Engl. J. Med.,?379?2140
2) Sripetchwandee?et al.?(2016),?A combination of an iron chelator with an antioxidant effectively diminishes the dendritic loss, tau-hyperphosphorylation, amyloid-β accumulation and brain mitochondrial dynamic disruption in rats with chronic iron-overload., Neuroscience?332?191
3) Liu?et al.?(2018),?Iron and Alzheimer’s Disease: From Pathogenesis to Therapeutic Implications;?Front. Neurosci,?12?632
