Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P02794 (ferritin)
 17,525 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The mRNA-binding protein, iron-regulatory factor (IRF) has a central role in iron metabolism. It coordinately increases transferrin-receptor mRNA stability and inhibits translation of ferritin and erythroid delta-aminolevulinate synthase mRNA by binding to specific mRNA structures, the iron-responsive elements (IRE). In gel-retardation assays, IRF had a broad tissue distribution, showing activity in cytosolic extracts from 12 mouse organs tested. In all these extracts, IRF could be further activated in vitro by 2-mercaptoethanol. In cultured mouse 3T6 fibroblasts, growth stimulation after low serum arrest increased IRF activity 10-fold, mainly through activation of existing inactive IRF. No change was observed during progression of 3T6 cells through the cell cycle. IRF activation by iron chelators has been postulated to result in the reduction of an intramolecular sulfhydryl group. In a search for redox conditions that regulate IRE binding of IRF, we studied several compounds in vitro or in vivo. Hemin, known to inactivate IRF in vivo, showed a similar, reversible effect in vitro, presumably by oxidizing IRF. However, this did not appear to be relevant for the mode of IRF regulation in vivo. Addition of protoporphyrin IX to intact cells induced IRF activity almost to the same extent as desferrioxamine. This effect was inhibited by iron salts, indicating that IRF is activated in vivo through depletion of a chelatable iron pool. In vitro activation by reductants other than 2-mercaptoethanol suggested some selectivity in their access to relevant sulfhydryl groups, but did not reveal which natural redox-sensitive compound might regulate IRF in vivo. However, in cultured cells, inactivation of free IRF by the sulfhydryl-specific oxidizing agent diamide was much more rapidly reversed than inactivation by iron salts. This indicates the direct involvement of a cellular reductant in setting IRF activity and suggests a rate-limiting IRF conformation that is reached only in the presence of iron, but not after diamide oxidation.
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PMID:In vivo and in vitro modulation of the mRNA-binding activity of iron-regulatory factor. Tissue distribution and effects of cell proliferation, iron levels and redox state. 139 66

Murine erythroleukemia cells rendered deficient in cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) activity by gene transfection are severely impaired in hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA)-induced differentiation (Pilz, R. B., Eigenthaler, M., and Boss, G. R. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 16161-16167). We now demonstrate that the A-kinase-deficient cells produce hemoglobin normally in response to exogenous hemin and that the heme precursor delta-aminolevulinate (delta-ALA) significantly increases HMBA-induced synthesis of heme and globin chains in these cells; these data suggest that impaired heme synthesis is at least partially responsible for the cells' deficient hemoglobin synthesis. HMBA-induced expression of the erythroid-specific delta-ALA synthetase, porphobilinogen deaminase, and beta-globin mRNAs was less in A-kinase-deficient cells than in parental cells and was reduced in proportion to the cells' residual A-kinase activity; relative transcription rates of these genes were reduced concordantly. Impaired expression of these three erythroid-specific genes was a feature of many independently-derived A-kinase-deficient clones, and normal expression was found in transfectants with normal A-kinase activity. The A-kinase-deficient cells did not exhibit a generalized defect in gene regulation since mRNA expression and transcription rates of H- and L-ferritin, c-myc, c-myb, and several housekeeping enzymes were similar in HMBA-treated parental and A-kinase-deficient cells. Our data suggest that A-kinase may be involved in regulating genes with erythroid-specific promoters and provide further evidence for heme as a regulator of globin chain synthesis.
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PMID:Impaired erythroid-specific gene expression in cAMP-dependent protein kinase-deficient murine erythroleukemia cells. 837 86

In immortalized cells of the erythroid lineage, the iron-regulatory protein (IRP) has been suggested to coregulate biosynthesis of the iron storage protein ferritin and the erythroid delta-aminolevulinate synthase (eALAS), a key enzyme in heme production. Under iron scarcity, IRP binds to an iron-responsive element (IRE) located in ferritin and eALAS mRNA leaders, causing a block of translation. In contrast, IRP-IRE interaction is reduced under high iron conditions, allowing efficient translation. We show here that primary chicken erythroblasts (ebls) proliferating or differentiating in culture use a drastically different regulation of iron metabolism. Independently of iron administration, ferritin H (ferH) chain mRNA translation was massively decreased, whereas eALAS transcripts remained constitutively associated with polyribosomes, indicating efficient translation. Variations in iron supply had minor but significant effects on eALAS mRNA polysome recruitment but failed to modulate IRP-affinity to the ferH-IRE in vitro. However, leukemic ebls transformed by the v-ErbA/v-ErbB-expressing avian erythroblastosis virus showed an iron-dependent reduction of IRP mRNA-binding activity, resulting in mobilization of ferH mRNA into polysomes. Hence, we analyzed a panel of ebls overexpressing v-ErbA and/or v-ErbB oncoproteins as well as the respective normal cellular homologues (c-ErbA/TRalpha, c-ErbB/EGFR). It turned out that v-ErbA, a mutated class II nuclear hormone receptor that arrests erythroid differentiation, caused the change in ferH mRNA translation. Accordingly, inhibition of v-ErbA function in these leukemic ebls led to a switch from iron-responsive to iron-independent ferH expression.
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PMID:Impaired ferritin mRNA translation in primary erythroid progenitors: shift to iron-dependent regulation by the v-ErbA oncoprotein. 1059 77