Iron-heme-Bach1 axis is involved in erythroblast adaptation to iron deficiency.

Iron plays the central role in oxygen transport by erythrocytes as a constituent of heme and hemoglobin. The importance of iron and heme is also to be found in their regulatory roles during erythroblast maturation. The transcription factor Bach1 may be involved in their regulatory roles since it is deactivated by direct binding of heme. To address whether Bach1 is involved in the responses of erythroblasts to iron status, low iron conditions that induced severe iron deficiency in mice were established. Under iron deficiency, extensive gene expression changes and mitophagy disorder were induced during maturation of erythroblasts. Bach1-/- mice showed more severe iron deficiency anemia in the developmental phase of mice and a retarded recovery once iron was replenished when compared with wild-type mice. In the absence of Bach1, the expression of globin genes and Hmox1 (encoding heme oxygenase-1) was de-repressed in erythroblasts under iron deficiency, suggesting that Bach1 represses these genes in erythroblasts under iron deficiency to balance the levels of heme and globin. Moreover, an increase in genome-wide DNA methylation was observed in erythroblasts of Bach1-/- mice under iron deficiency. These findings reveal the principle role of iron as a regulator of gene expression in erythroblast maturation and suggest that the iron-heme-Bach1 axis is important for a proper adaptation of erythroblast to iron deficiency to avoid toxic aggregates of non-heme globin.

Hemopexin-dependent heme uptake via endocytosis regulates the Bach1 transcription repressor and heme oxygenase gene activation.

BACKGROUND: Intracellular heme plays versatile roles in a variety of physiological processes including mitochondrial respiration. Heme also induces the expression of genes such as heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) by inactivating the transcription repressor Bach1 through direct binding. However, the source of heme for the regulation of the Bach1-HO-1 axis has been unclear. Considering that extracellular heme exists as a complex with hemopexin (Hx) in serum under the physiological conditions, heme-Hx complex may deliver heme for the gene regulation. METHODS: Using a mammalian expression system, high secretory recombinant Hx (rHx) was developed. We examined the effects of rHx-bound heme on HO-1 expression and Bach1 in Hepa-1c1c7 liver cells and THP-1 macrophage cells. We investigated the uptake pathway of rHx-bound heme by treating cells with chlorpromazine (CPZ). RESULTS: rHx-bound heme induced the expression of HO-1 and decreased the level of Bach1 protein. CPZ inhibited the induction of the HO-1 expression by rHx-bound heme. CONCLUSION: rHx-bound heme was internalized into the cells via endocytosis, resulting in HO-1 expression and inactivation of Bach1. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: The Bach1-dependent repression of the HO-1 expression is under the control of the Hx-dependent uptake of extracellular heme. Heme may regulate Bach1 as an extracellular signaling molecule.