Repression of the heavy ferritin chain increases the labile iron pool of human K562 cells.

The role of ferritin in the modulation of the labile iron pool was examined by repressing the heavy subunit of ferritin in K562 cells transfected with an antisense construct. Repression of the heavy ferritin subunit evoked an increase in the chemical levels and pro-oxidant activity of the labile iron pool and, in turn, caused a reduced expression of transferrin receptors and increased expression of the light ferritin subunit.