Estrogen inhibit ferroptosis and acute kidney injury

One of the main causes of acute kidney damage is ferroptosis, also known as “biological rust.” This process causes the loss of nephrons, which are the functional units of the kidney. 

In the study, the research team demonstrated that the female reproductive hormone estrogen protects the kidneys in many ways against damage caused by ferroptosis.

“Recently, it has become increasingly clear that the mechanisms of kidney damage are different in female and male individuals,” explains one of the three lead authors of this study. “It turned out that estradiol, a hormone from the estrogen group, increases resistance to ferroptosis. The body's own metabolites of estradiol directly intercept harmful radicals, while the original hormone activates a complex genetic program to prevent ferroptosis.”

These findings once again show how important reproductive hormones are for all sorts of processes in the body. Getting a better fundamental understanding of how they work will also help develop better treatments for people with kidney disease in the long run. Overall, understanding diseases in a gender-specific way is a big step toward personalized approaches and more gender equality in medicine.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09389-x

https://sciencemission.com/oestradiol-functions-inhibit-ferroptosis-in-AKI