DFO-induced high expression of TfR1 and DMT1 enhanced iron uptake by activating IL-6/PI3K/AKT pathway in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells [24], we supposed that the increased iron in the cytoplasm would be stored in ferritin, and under DFO-induced iron-deficient condition, the increased mitochondrial iron in MDA-MB-231 cells would be derived from ferritin by lysosomal degradation. Here, AKT1 is linked to breast cancer.