# Metabolic regulation of human erythropoiesis

> **NIH NIH P01** · NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER · 2021 · $135,097

## Abstract

Project 3 Abstract 
Metabolic regulation of human erythropoiesis 
The self renewal capacity of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is controlled by the cells' metabolic state but 
the possibility that nutrient entry and metabolism contribute to the differential commitment of an HSC to a 
lymphoid, myeloid or erythroid lineage fate was not considered until very recently. The overall goal of this 
project is to develop a mechanistic understanding of the role of cell metabolism in physiological and 
disordered erythropoiesis. Our studies address the hypothesis that nutrient transport and utilization regulate 
both normal and pathological human erythroid differentiation. Our previous data show that the glucose 
transporter Glut1 is only upregulated during the final mitoses of human erythroid differentiation (Montel- 
Hagen et al. Cell 2008) whereas the glutamine transporter ASCT2 is expressed on all HSCs. We 
determined that down regulation of ASCT2 or blocking glutamine metabolism abrogates erythroid 
differentiation and skews erythropoietin-treated HSCs towards a myeloid fate. In contrast, diverting glucose 
into the pentose phosphate pathway, away from glycolysis, accelerates erythropoiesis (Oburoglu et al. Cell 
Stem Cell 2014). In Aim 1, we will use our unique collection of retroviral envelope receptor binding domains 
(RBDs), that function as specific ligands of solute carrier (SLC) nutrient transporters, to characterize stage- 
specific expression and function of transporters and determine the array of transporters regulating 
erythropoiesis in normal conditions as well as in erythroid progenitors with altered nuclear lamins (with 
Project 4), in a TET2-deficient model of myelodysplastic syndrome, and in RPL5- and RPL11-deficient 
models of Diamond Blackfan anemia (with Project 1). In Aim 2, we will assess metabolic fluxes from stable 
glucose, glutamine, and fatty acid isotope tracers, elucidating the metabolic networks and metabolites that 
regulate normal and perturbed erythropoiesis. These studies will critically address our hypothesis that fuel 
resource utilization governs early and terminal erythroid differentiation, at a level beyond simply providing 
the ATP, amino acids and lipids that are required for cell division. We propose that metabolic changes 
contribute to stage-specific epigenetic, transcriptional and translational erythroid regulatory programs which 
will be evaluated with Project 2. We anticipate that integration of these data within the Program Project will 
identify the nutrient fluxes and utilization that control stage-specific erythroid transitions, pioneer nutrient 
transporter biomarker discovery in erythroid disorders, and promote the manipulation of nutrient 
transporters and metabolic networks that orient physiological and pathological erythroid cell differentiation 
and survival.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10228574
- **Project number:** 5P01DK032094-33
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Sandrina KINET
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $135,097
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-01-30 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10228574

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10228574, Metabolic regulation of human erythropoiesis (5P01DK032094-33). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10228574. Licensed CC0.

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