Role for copper in the cellular and regulatory effects of heme-hemopexin.

Hemopexin (HPX) binds heme tightly, thus protecting cells from heme toxicity during hemolysis, trauma and ischemia-reperfusion injury. Heme uptake via endocytosis of heme-HPX followed by heme catabolism by heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1) raises regulatory iron pools, thus linking heme metabolism with that of iron. Normal iron homeostasis requires copper-replete cells. When heme-HPX induces HMOX1, the copper-storing metallothioneins (MTs) are also induced whereas the copper-responsive copper chaperone that delivers copper to Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase, CCS1, is decreased; both are known responses when cellular copper levels rise. Endocytosis of heme-HPX is needed to regulate CCS1 since the signaling ligand cobalt-protoporphyrin (CoPP)-HPX, which does not induce HMOX1 but does co-localize with heme-HPX in endosomes, also decreased CCS1. These observations support that heme-HPX mobilizes copper in cells. The regulation of both hmox1 and mt1 is prevented by the copper-chelator, bathocuproinedisulfonate (BCDS), but not uptake of heme-AlexaFluor-labeled HPX into endosomes. Supporting a role for copper in HMOX1 regulation by heme-HPX, nutritional copper deficiency generated by tetraethylene pentamine or 232 tetraamine prevented HMOX1 induction. Using conditions that mimic maturing endosomes, we found that copper prevents rebinding of heme to apo-HPX. A model is presented in which copper endocytosis together with that of heme-HPX provides a means to facilitate heme export from HPX in the maturing endosomes: heme is needed for hmox1 transcription, while cytosolic copper and CCS1 provide a link for the known simultaneous regulation of hmox1 and mt1 by heme-HPX.

Interaction of heme and heme-hemopexin with an extracellular oxidant system used to measure cell growth-associated plasma membrane electron transport.

Since redox active metals are often transported across membranes into cells in the reduced state, we have investigated whether exogenous ferri-heme or heme bound to hemopexin (HPX), which delivers heme to cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis, interact with a cell growth-associated plasma membrane electron transport (PMET) pathway. PMET reduces the cell-impermeable tetrazolium salt, WST-1, in the presence of the mandatory low potential intermediate electron acceptor, mPMS. In human promyelocytic (HL60) cells, protoheme (iron protoporphyrin IX; 2,4-vinyl), mesoheme (2,4-ethyl) and deuteroheme (2,4-H) inhibited reduction of WST-1/mPMS in a saturable manner supporting interaction with a finite number of high affinity acceptor sites (Kd 221 nM for naturally occurring protoheme). A requirement for the redox-active iron was shown using gallium-protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) and tin-PPIX. Heme-hemopexin, but not apo-hemopexin, also inhibited WST-1 reduction, and copper was required. Importantly, since neither heme nor heme-hemopexin replace mPMS as an intermediate electron acceptor and since inhibition of WST-1/mPMS reduction requires living cells, the experimental evidence supports the view that heme and heme-hemopexin interact with electrons from PMET. We therefore propose that heme and heme-hemopexin are natural substrates for this growth-associated electron transfer across the plasma membrane.