Preferred Abstract (Original):
Metal ions are required for many critical functions in humans. Scarcity of some metal ions can lead to disease.
Well-known examples include pernicious anemia resulting from iron deficiency, growth retardation arising from
insufficient di- etary zinc, and heart disease in infants owing to copper deficiency. The ability to recognize, to
understand at the molecular level, and to treat diseases caused by inadequate metal-ion function constitutes an
important aspect of medicinal bioinorganic chemistry. Understanding the biochemistry and molecular biology of
natural detoxification mechanisms of metals can help in designing and applying chelating agents to treat metals
to be excellent antitumor agents for several cancer types.