👤 Emilia Turco

For decades, great strides have been made in the field of immunometabolism. A plethora of evidence ranging from basic mechanisms to clinical transformation has gradually embarked on immunometabolism to the center stage of innate and adaptive immunomodulation. Given this, we focus on changes in immunometabolism, a converging series of biochemical events that alters immune cell function, propose the immune roles played by diversified metabolic derivatives and enzymes, emphasize the key metabolism-related checkpoints in distinct immune cell types, and discuss the ongoing and upcoming realities of clinical treatment. It is expected that future research will reduce the current limitations of immunotherapy and provide a positive hand in immune responses to exert a broader therapeutic role. Show less

BACKGROUND: Macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system play a key role in recycling iron from hemoglobin of senescent or damaged erythrocytes. Heme oxygenase 1 degrades the heme moiety and releases inorganic iron that is stored in ferritin or exported to the plasma via the iron export protein ferroportin. In the plasma, iron binds to transferrin and is made available for de novo red cell synthesis. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the regulatory mechanisms that control the transcriptional response of iron export protein ferroportin to hemoglobin in macrophages. DESIGN AND METHODS: Iron export protein ferroportin mRNA expression was analyzed in RAW264.7 mouse macrophages in response to hemoglobin, heme, ferric ammonium citrate or protoporphyrin treatment or to siRNA mediated knockdown or overexpression of Btb And Cnc Homology 1 or nuclear accumulation of Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-like. Iron export protein ferroportin promoter activity was analyzed using reporter constructs that contain specific truncations of the iron export protein ferroportin promoter or mutations in a newly identified MARE/ARE element. RESULTS: We show that iron export protein ferroportin is transcriptionally co-regulated with heme oxygenase 1 by heme, a degradation product of hemoglobin. The protoporphyrin ring of heme is sufficient to increase iron export protein ferroportin transcriptional activity while the iron released from the heme moiety controls iron export protein ferroportin translation involving the IRE in the 5'untranslated region. Transcription of iron export protein ferroportin is inhibited by Btb and Cnc Homology 1 and activated by Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-like involving a MARE/ARE element located at position -7007/-7016 of the iron export protein ferroportin promoter. CONCLUSIONS: This finding suggests that heme controls a macrophage iron recycling regulon involving Btb and Cnc Homology 1 and Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-like to assure the coordinated degradation of heme by heme oxygenase 1, iron storage and detoxification by ferritin, and iron export by iron export protein ferroportin. Show less