REGULATION OF CELLULAR IRON-METABOLISM BY ERYTHROPOIETIN - ACTIVATIONOF IRON-REGULATORY PROTEIN AND UP-REGULATION OF TRANSFERRIN RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN ERYTHROID-CELLS
G. Weiss et al., REGULATION OF CELLULAR IRON-METABOLISM BY ERYTHROPOIETIN - ACTIVATIONOF IRON-REGULATORY PROTEIN AND UP-REGULATION OF TRANSFERRIN RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN ERYTHROID-CELLS, Blood, 89(2), 1997, pp. 680-687
Erythropoietin (Epo) is the central regulator of red blood cell produc
tion and acts primarily by inducing proliferation and differentiation
of erythroid progenitor cells. Because a sufficient supply of iron is
a prerequisite for erythroid proliferation and hemoglobin synthesis, w
e have investigated whether Epo can regulate cellular iron metabolism.
We present here a novel biologic function of Epo, namely as a potenti
al modulator of cellular iron homeostasis. We show that, in human (K56
2) and murine erythroleukemic cells (MEL), Epo enhances the binding af
finity of iron-regulatory protein (IRP)-1, the central regulator of ce
llular iron metabolism, to specific RNA stem-loop structures, known as
iron-responsive elements (IREs). Activation of IRP-1 by Epo is associ
ated with a marked increase in transferrin receptor (trf-rec) mRNA lev
els in K562 and MEL, enhanced cell surface expression of trf-recs, and
increased uptake of iron into cells. These findings are in agreement
with the well-established mechanism whereby high-affinity binding of I
RPs to IREs stabilizes trf-rec mRNA by protecting it from degradation
by a specific RNase. The effects of Epo on IRE-binding of IRPs were no
t observed in human myelomonocytic cells (THP-1), which indicates that
this response to Epo is not a general mechanism observed in all cells
but is likely to be erythroid-specific. Our results provide evidence
for a direct functional connection between Epo biology and iron metabo
lism by which Epo increases iron uptake into erythroid progenitor cell
s via posttranscriptional induction of trf-rec expression. Our data su
ggest that sequential administration of Epo and iron might improve the
response to Epo therapy in some anemias. (C) 1997 by The American Soc
iety of Hematology.