SUMMARY The mechanisms that allow the body to sense iron levels in order to maintain iron homeostasis are unknown. Patients with the most common form of hereditary iron overload have mutations in the hereditary hemochromatosis protein, HFE. They have lower levels of hepcidin, than unaffected individuals. Hepcidin, a hepatic peptide hormone, negatively regulates iron efflux from the intestines into the blood. We report two hepatic cell lines, WIF-B cells and HepG2 cells transfected with HFE, where hepcidin expression responded to iron-loaded transferrin. The response was abolished when endogenous transferrin receptor 2 (TfR2) was suppressed or in primary hepatocytes lacking either functional TfR2 or HFE. Furthermore, transferrin-treated HepG2 cells transfected with HFE chimeras containing only the α3 and cytoplasmic domains could upregulate hepcidin expression. Since the HFE α3 domain interacts with TfR2, these results supported our finding that TfR2/HFE complex is required for transcriptional regulation of hepcidin by holo-Tf.

Hemojuvelin (HJV), encoded by the gene HFE2, is a critical upstream regulator of hepcidin expression. Hepcidin, the central iron regulatory hormone, is secreted from hepatocytes, whereas HFE2 is highly expressed in skeletal muscle and liver. Previous studies demonstrated that HJV is a GPI-anchored protein, binds the proteins neogenin and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP2 and BMP4), and can be released from the cell membrane (shedding). In this study, we investigated the physiological significance and the underlying mechanism of HJV shedding. In acutely iron-deficient rats with markedly suppressed hepatic hepcidin expression, we detected an early phase increase of serum HJV with no significant change of either HFE2 mRNA or protein levels in gastrocnemius muscle. Studies in both C2C12 (a mouse myoblast cell line) and HepG2 (a human hepatoma cell line) cells showed active HJV shedding, implying that both skeletal muscle and liver could be the source of serum HJV. In agreement with the observations in iron-deficient rats, HJV shedding in these cell lines was down-regulated by holo-transferrin in a concentrationdependent manner. Our present study showing that knockdown of endogenous neogenin, a HJV receptor, in C2C12 cells suppresses HJV shedding and that overexpression of neogenin in HEK293 cells markedly enhances this process, suggests that membrane HJV shedding is mediated by neogenin. The finding that neither BMP4 nor its antagonist, noggin, was able to alter HJV shedding support the lack of involvement of BMP signaling pathway in this process.

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Discovery and function of hepcidin in iron homeostasisHepcidin is a key peptide hormone that regulates iron homeostasis in chordates. Hepcidin was initially characterized as an antimicrobial peptide in a mass spectrometry-based search for cysteine-rich defensin-like peptides in blood (1) and in urine (2). However, both groups showed that hepcidin displays only a weak antimicrobial activity. Further, unlike defensins, which vary in sequence among species, hepcidin is highly conserved from zebrafish to humans. Shortly after hepcidin was described, subtractive hybridization studies comparing the livers of normal and iron overloaded mice established a connection between iron loading and increased hepcidin mRNA (3, 4). The fundamental insight into hepcidin's role in iron homeostasis came in 2004 with the discovery that hepcidin acts to lower iron in the blood by binding to and downregulating the iron transporter, ferroportin (FPN1) (5). FPN1 is the only known transporter that is responsible for the efflux of iron from cells. Downregulation of FPN1 by hepcidin in splenic and hepatic macrophages decreases the ability of macrophages to export recycled iron from senescent rbcs, which constitute the primary source of iron in the plasma. In addition, a high concentration of hepcidin in the blood decreases the transport of iron out of intestinal epithelial cells, further limiting iron in the blood. Control of hepcidin expressionHepcidin is synthesized, processed to an active form, and secreted predominantly by hepatocytes (6, 7). The expression of hepcidin is mediated through the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathways (Figure 1). Under nonpathological conditions, iron levels in the body upregulate hepcidin expression. Although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood, recent studies have documented the essential roles of hemojuvelin (HJV), hereditary hemochromatosis protein (HFE), transferrin receptor 2 (TfR2), and matriptase-2 (MT2, encoded by the gene TMPRSS6) in the process of hepcidin regulation in humans and animal models as well as of BMP6, neogenin, and BMP receptors (ActRIIA/ALK2/ALK3) in animal models (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).Intact BMP signaling is essential for hepcidin expression. The canonical BMP-signaling pathway is initiated upon BMP binding to a BMP receptor complex on the cell surface, which activates the receptor kinase to phosphorylate the cytoplasmic proteins SMAD1, SMAD5, and SMAD8. These phosphorylated, receptor-regulated SMADs then form transcription factor complexes with SMAD4, consisting of receptor-regulated SMADs and SMAD4, that translocate into the nucleus to induce the transcription of target genes such as hepcidin (18). In mice, liver-specific disruption of SMAD4 or the BMP receptors ALK2 or ALK3 markedly decreased hepcidin expression, resulting in iron overload (15,19).BMP6. At least 20 BMPs are expressed in mammals. In vitro studies reveal that BMP2, -4, -5, -6, -7, and -9 can robustly induce BMP signaling and markedly increase hepcidin expres...

The mRNAs of proteins involved in iron metabolism were measured in isolated hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs), and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Levels of type I hereditary hemochromatosis gene (HFE), transferrin, hepcidin, transferrin receptors 1 and 2 (TfR1, TfR2), ferroportin 1 (FPN1), divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (Nramp1), ceruloplasmin, hephaestin, and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), were measured by quantitative reversetransriptase polyerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). We show that hepatocytes express almost all the iron-related genes tested, in keeping with their central role in iron metabolism. In addition, hepatocytes had 10-fold lower TfR1 mRNA levels than TfR2 and the lowest levels of TfR1 of the 4 cell types isolated. Kupffer cells, which process senescent red blood cells and recycle the iron, had high levels of ferroportin 1, ceruloplasmin, and hephaestin mRNA. Most important, of all the cell types tested, hepatocytes had the highest level of HFE mRNA, a factor of 10 higher than Kupffer cells. In situ hybridization analysis was conducted with rat liver sections. Consistent with the qRT-PCR analysis, HFE gene expression was localized mainly in hepatocytes. Western blot analysis confirmed this finding. Unexpectedly, HSCs also had high levels of DMT1 and ferroportin, implicating them in either iron sensing or iron cycling. IntroductionThe liver plays a central role in iron homeostasis. It is the major site of the body's excess iron storage, which accounts for approximately 12.5% to 25% (0.5 to 1 g) of total body iron in a healthy adult man. 1 Iron is mainly sequestered in hepatocytes as ferritin. Under low-iron conditions, the stored iron can be actively mobilized into circulation. 2 Hepatocytes are also the source of transferrin (Tf), the iron transport protein in blood; ceruloplasmin, a serum multicopper ferric oxidase; and hepcidin, a recently discovered peptide involved in the regulation of iron absorption from the intestine. Thus, they play a major role in iron homeostasis in the body. Kupffer cells reprocess iron from senescent red blood cells. The roles that 2 other cell types in the liver, hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and sinusoidal endothelial cells (SECs), play in iron homeostasis are not known.In the iron-overload disease hereditary hemochromatosis, excess iron accumulates in the liver as well as a number of other organs. The protein that is mutated in the most common form of hereditary hemochromatosis is HFE. By Northern analysis, the liver contains the highest levels of the mRNA for HFE, but the cell type that expresses HFE has been controversial. [3][4][5] Knowing the cell types that express HFE is important in determining the mechanism by which HFE regulates iron homeostasis in the liver.In this study, isolated cell populations of rat liver hepatocytes, Kupffer cells, SECs, and HSCs were examined for their expression of genes implicated in iron transport and regulation. A series of...