Transcriptional regulation by iron of the gene for the transferrin receptor.

Treatment of K562 cells with desferrioxamine, a permeable iron chelator, led to an increase in the number of transferrin receptors. Increasing intracellular iron levels by treatment of cells with either human diferric transferrin or hemin lowered the level of the transferrin receptors. By using a cDNA clone of the human transferrin receptor, we showed that the changes in the levels of the receptor by iron were accompanied by alterations in the levels of the mRNA for the receptor. The rapidity of these changes indicated that the mRNA had a very short half-life. By using an in vitro transcriptional assay with isolated nuclei, we obtained evidence that this regulation occurred at the transcriptional level.