Hemin-induced reactive oxygen species triggers autophagy-dependent macrophage differentiation and pro-inflammatory responses in THP-1 cells

The toxic effect of oxidized-heme, also known as hemin, is implicated in developing adverse clinical outcome in various hematolytic diseases. To simulate and reconstruct the molecular events associated with hemin exposure on circulating monocytes, we employed a THP-1 cell line based in vitro model. Flow cytometry and Western blot analyses were subsequently applied. Hemin-treated THP-1 produced ROS in a dose-dependent manner which resulted in 10–30 % of cell death primarily through apoptosis. Surviving cells induced autophagy which too was ROS-dependent, as revealed by application of N-acetyl-L-cysteine. Hemin-mediated autophagy promoted differentiation of CD14⁺ THP-1 cells into CD11b⁺ macrophages. Application of 3-methyladenine, reinforced that differentiation of THP-1 was an autophagy-dependent process. It was revealed that despite a higher polarization towards M2-macrophage, synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines namely TNF-α, IL-1A, IL-2, IL-8 and IL-17A predominated. IL-6, a pleiotropic cytokine, was also elevated. It may thus be surmised that hemin-induced pro-inflammatory response in THP-1 is downstream to ROS-dependent autophagy and monocyte differentiation. This finding is translationally meaningful as hemin is already approved by FDA for amelioration of acute porphyria and is actively considered as a therapeutic agent for other diseases. This study underscores the need of further research untangling the reciprocal regulation of inflammatory signaling and autophagy under oxidative stress.