This project investigates a dual-target therapeutic strategy for infectious diseases and cancer based on the inhibition of two essential iron-dependent processes:
Iron is essential for electron transport, DNA synthesis, sulfur metabolism, and other processes required for cellular growth. Pathogens and cancer cells may become particularly dependent on iron-utilizing systems as they proliferate or adapt to metabolic stress.
The central hypothesis is that simultaneous inhibition of Fe–S cluster biogenesis and RNR could suppress the growth of susceptible pathogens and cancer cells more effectively than inhibition of either pathway alone.