Chemicals That Stimulate Iron Uptake – A Novel Approach to Treatment of Iron Deficiency,

Abstract 3180

Iron (Fe) is an essential nutrient required for all cells, especially for erythrocyte hemoglobin synthesis which requires absorption of 1–2 mg of iron from the gastrointestinal tract. Iron deficiency as a result of inadequate dietary uptake has multiple consequences including anemia and abnormal neurologic development in children and is a global public health concern. Enterocytes in the duodenum, the site of iron absorption, can extract about 10% of dietary Fe. Nonetheless for numerous reasons simple iron supplementation has not solved the worldwide epidemic of iron deficiency. We hypothesized that small molecules which could potentiate iron uptake into cells would allow enterocytes to absorb an increased amount of dietary iron and could be beneficial in limiting iron deficiency. To identify molecules that would accelerate Fe uptake we used a high through-put screening system in conjunction with a reporter system of K562 cells loaded with the divalent metal chelator calcein whose fluorescence is quenched with chelation of Fe²⁺. Small molecules that stimulated Fe uptake were defined as causing increased calcein fluorescence quenching compared to Fe alone. K562 cells were exposed to 0.1 μM calcein for 10 minutes, thoroughly washed, and 1 × 10⁵ cells plated into each well of multiple 96-well plates. After equilibration of the plates at 37° C, aliquots of the individual components of an in-house chemical library of ∼12,000 compounds dissolved in DMSO were screened in duplicate or triplicate and fluorescence measurements made at 0 and 30 min after addition of 10 μM FeNH₄SO₄ in a Synergy IV plate reader. 30 chemicals were identified that stimulated iron-induced quenching of calcein fluorescence. The stimulation was verified by dose response curves and by assaying the effect on non-transferrin bound ⁵⁵Fe uptake. None of the stimulators were cytotoxic for up to at least 3 days. The lead compound, LS081, had an IC₅₀ = 1.22 ± 0.48 μM for ⁵⁵Fe uptake in K562 cells compared to controls. LS081 was also used to examine the iron uptake in Caco2 cells grown in bicameral chambers, a model system to study intestinal iron absorption. LS081 significantly increased ⁵⁵Fe uptake into Caco2 cells with a very rapid influx of ⁵⁵Fe in the first 5 min after Fe was offered to the apical surface followed by a ∼ 4-fold increased uptake over the next 90 min. ⁵⁵Fe transport across the basolateral surface into the basal chamber also increased ∼ 4 fold. The increased ⁵⁵Fe transport in caco2 cells is more prominent at lower pH of 5.5 compare to pH 7.5 suggesting LS081 acted on a common divalent metal uptake pathway. Mice treated with LS081 + ferric ammonium citrate via oral gavage for two weeks significantly increased (p < 0.001 by unpaired t-test compared to ferric ammonium citrate alone) the level of ferritin, the iron storage protein, in the liver, demonstrating the absorption of LS081 from intestinal cells. In summary, using high through-put screening technique we identified small molecules that stimulate iron uptake and could be used as a drug for iron deficiency.