Transferrin receptor function in hereditary hemochromatosis.

The binding of 125I-diferric transferrin to cultured skin fibroblasts and phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes was studied in cells derived from individuals homozygous for hereditary hemochromatosis and from normal individuals. Receptors with a high affinity for diferric transferrin were present on all cells. Transferrin receptor number decreased by more than 50% when fibroblasts from both normal and hemochromatotic subjects were maintained in iron-supplemented medium. The number of transferrin receptors expressed by normal and hemochromatotic lymphocytes after mitogen stimulation in iron-supplemented media was less than 50% that of lymphocytes which were mitogen stimulated in standard medium. No change in the affinity of the receptors for diferric transferrin was seen in cells maintained in iron-supplemented medium. Competition experiments in the presence of deferoxamine suggested that the transferrin receptors of fibroblasts and mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes have a 70- to 100-fold higher affinity for diferric transferrin than for apotransferrin. No differences in the properties of transferrin receptors were found between patients with hereditary hemochromatosis and normal individuals. Although transferrin binding decreases when cells are exposed to high levels of iron in the medium, the failure to totally abolish transferrin binding to the receptor suggests that the concentration of diferric transferrin to which cells are exposed may be a major determinant of cellular iron loading in hereditary hemochromatosis.