The stress response gene, transcriptional regulator (NUPR1), targeted LCN2 as an effector gene to inhibit iron-dependent ferroptosis and LCN2 can retard acute pancreatitis by lowering the iron level in the cytoplasm (Liu J. et al., 2021), which help us draw inspiration from this pathway to explore the relationship between iron metabolism and ferroptosis on the gene level. Here, LCN2 is linked to acute pancreatitis.