Iron transferrin receptor complex

Many of the investigations into endosomal pathways have concentrated on receptor-mediated endocytosis, as in the iron-transferrin-receptor complex, and it is not clear how the systems vary depending on whether or not the pathway is clathrin-dependent or clathrin-independent [54],... 

The uptake of iron into the cell could follow several pathways. The iron could be released from the transferrin at the receptor site and be carried into the cell. Alternatively, the whole transferrin-receptor complex could be taken into the cell via endocytosis, and passed into an acidic compartment, where the iron is released, passed out of the compartment, and stored in ferritin. 

As noted above, iron-loaded serum transferrin has the role of transporting Fe(III) to cells requiring it. Once it reaches a target cell, it binds to the transferrin receptor (TfR) on the cell outer surface. TfR is a disulfide-linked dimer that binds two transferrin molecules. At neutral pH, apo transferrin does not bind to the transferrin receptor. Once formed, the transferrin receptor complex becomes detached from the cell membrane and enters the cell enclosed in a clathrin-coated vesicle. Uncoating of the vesicle generates an endosome in which the pH is lowered to 5.5, promoting release of iron. At this pH, the transferrin remains bound to its receptor, and... 

Figure 2.8 compares corrected Nernst plots for C-lobe half-transferrin free in solution and bound to the transferrin receptor, at endosomal pH. These data clearly demonstrate that docking iron-loaded C-lobe transferrin at the transferrin receptor at pH 5.8 makes it energetically more favourable to reduce Fe " to Fe by 200 mV. Furthermore, receptor-docking places Fe reduction in a range accessible to NADH or NADPH cofactors, consistent with the hypothesis that reduction is the initial event in iron release from transferrin in the endosome. Fe " is bound by /zTf at least 14 orders of magnitude more weakly than Fe, so that reductive release of iron bound to HTi in the transferrin-transferrin receptor complex is then physiologically and thermodynamically feasible, and the barrier to transport across the endosomal membrane is lifted. The transferrin receptor, therefore, is more than a simple conveyor of... 

The transfer of iron from blood to hemoglobin synthesizing cells has not been investigated extensively. The work of Fielding and Speyer suggests that the iron transferrin attaches with a surface receptor to form (B2) a complex which has been isolated from the reticulocyte membrane and has a molecular weight of 230,000. Before it reaches hemoglobin, the final acceptor, it appears that the iron is transferred to two intermediate iron acceptors (B1 and C) one located in the membrane, the other in the cytosol. Thus p-hydroxymercuribenzoate does not interfere with the formation of the iron transferrin B2 complex, but blocks the transfer to the intermediates with accumulations of the iron transferrin B2 complex [45]. 

In humans, iron is transported across the gut by a series of poorly defined processes. Fe(III), ferric ion, is absorbed via a J03 integrin and mobilferrin, whereas ferrous ion enter the cells via Nramp. Once inside the body, Fe(III) is transported through the serum by transferrin, a protein of molecular weight 63,000 Da. Fe(III) transferrin is recognized by a receptor protein on the cell surface. Via a process known as cell-mediated endocytosis, the Fe(III) transferrin/receptor complex induces the external cell membrane to pucker and eventually form a clatharin-coated vesicle in the cytoplasm. After removal of the clatharin, the vesicle (known as an endosome) becomes... 

HFE has been shown to be located in cells in the crypts of the small intestine, the site of iron absorption. There is evidence that it associates with P2 niicroglobu-lin, an association that may be necessary for its stability, intracellular processing, and cell surface expression. The complex interacts with the transferrin receptor (TfR) how this leads to excessive storage of iron when HFE is altered by mutation is under close smdy. The mouse homolog of HFE has been knocked out, resulting in a potentially useful animal model of hemochromatosis. 

Coated vesicle bearing complex of receptor and iron-transferrin... 

It seems clear that complexes 28 and 29 both enter cancer cells by transferrin-mediation. Tumor cells are known to have a high density of transferrin receptors, and this provides a route for the uptake of ruthenium (175). In normal blood plasma, transferrin is only one-third saturated with Fe(III) and therefore vacant sites are available for Ru(III) binding. Baker et al. have shown by X-ray crystallography that complex 29 binds to His-253 of apolactoferrin, one of the Fe(III) ligands in the iron binding cleft of the N-lobe, with displacement of a chloride ligand (176). Ruthenium(III) is well known to have a high affinity for solvent-exposed His side chains of proteins (177). Complex... 

Once in the serum, aluminium can be transported bound to transferrin, and also to albumin and low-molecular ligands such as citrate. However, the transferrrin-aluminium complex will be able to enter cells via the transferrin-transferrin-receptor pathway (see Chapter 8). Within the acidic environment of the endosome, we assume that aluminium would be released from transferrin, but how it exits from this compartment remains unknown. Once in the cytosol of the cell, aluminium is unlikely to be readily incorporated into the iron storage protein ferritin, since this requires redox cycling between Fe2+ and Fe3+ (see Chapter 19). Studies of the subcellular distribution of aluminium in various cell lines and animal models have shown that the majority accumulates in the mitochondria, where it can interfere with calcium homeostasis. Once in the circulation, there seems little doubt that aluminium can cross the blood-brain barrier. 

Another example is uptake of the iron-containing protein, transferrin, which circulates in the blood. It binds to its receptor to form a complex that enters the cell via endocytosis. The iron is then released from the endosome for use in the cell (e.g. haemoglobin formation for erythrocyte production or cytochrome production in proliferating cells). The number of transferrin receptors in the plasma membrane increases in proliferating cells and the number in the liver is increased by cytokines during infection. This results in a lower concentration of iron in the blood which decreases the proliferation of invading pathogens (Chapters 15 and 18). 

Iron ion The protein transferrin binds ferric ions and transports them in the semm aronnd the body. The ions are taken np by cells via a transferrin receptor which is present in the plasma membrane. The receptor binds transferrin and the complex enters the cell where transferrin releases... 

Absorption, transport, and storage of iron. Intestinal epithelial cells actively absorb inorganic iron and heme iron (H). Ferrous iron that is absorbed or released from absorbed heme iron in the intestine (1) is actively transported into the blood or complexed with apoferritin (AF) and stored as ferritin (F). In the blood, iron is transported by transferrin (Tf) to erythroid precursors in the bone marrow for synthesis of hemoglobin (Hgb) (2) or to hepatocytes for storage as ferritin (3). The transferrin-iron complexes bind to transferrin receptors (TfR) in erythroid precursors and hepatocytes and are internalized. After release of the iron, the TfR-Tf complex is recycled to the plasma membrane and Tf is released. Macrophages that phagocytize senescent erythrocytes (RBC) reclaim the iron from the RBC hemoglobin and either export it or store it as ferritin (4). Hepatocytes use several mechanisms to... 

It should be pointed out, however, that not all hormones dissociate from their receptor in the pH 5.5 environment of the endosome [24], Some hormone-receptor complexes require much lower pH values for dissociation to occur. Although not a peptide hormone, the iron-transport protein transferrin is a peculiar example of this phenomenon and should be pointed out. In this case, at the neutral pH of the extracellular fluid transferrin containing bound iron binds to its cell surface receptor and is internalized. In the low pH environment of the endosome, iron becomes dissociated from transferrin, but transferrin remains bound to its receptor. The transferrin receptor, with bound transferrin, is then recycled to the cell surface. With iron no longer bound to the transferrin, the transferrin readily dissociates from its receptor at the neutral pH of the extracellular fluid [25,26]. This mechanism provides for an efficient continual uptake of iron into cells. Unlike transferrin, however, in those instances where peptide hormones have been documented not to be dissociated from their receptor in the endosome compartment, the hormone and receptor are delivered to the lysosomes via fusion of the endosomes with lyso-somes, where both hormone and receptor are degraded [24,27]. The continuous degradation of the receptor with each round of RME eventually leads to a decrease in the number of receptors on the cell surface, a phenomenon called down-regulation. 

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