Hemin-induced differentiation of the human erythroleukemia cell line K562 results in the expression and accumulation of erythroid-specific gene products such as embryonic and fetal hemoglobins and the elevated synthesis of the major heat shock protein HSP70. This activity was suggested to represent activation of a heat shock gene during erythroid maturation independent of stress induction. In this study, we demonstrate that hemin induces the transcription of two members of the human HSP70 gene family, HSP70 and GRP78 (BiP). However, the induction of HSP70 by hemin showed characteristics consistent with the molecular events associated with a heat shock or stress response. The increase in HSP70 gene transcription was accompanied by induction of the stress-induced form of the heat shock transcription factor. Moreover, a heat shock element was required for the hemin responsiveness of chimeric heat shock promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase genes transiently expressed in transfected K562 cells.Although expression of the major heat shock protein HSP70 has long been known to be regulated by diverse forms of stress such as heat shock or incubation in heavy metals or amino acid analogs, it has become increasingly clear that expression of heat shock genes is not limited to cells that are undergoing acute stress. Examples of nonstress conditions under which HSP70 is expressed include the cell cycle (15), response to serum stimulation (32), early stages of mouse embryogenesis (3), mouse spermatogenesis (14,34), and differentiation of HL60 promyelocytic leukemia cells (20).There has been extensive evidence linking the expression of HSP70 to erythroid differentiation. For example, high levels of HSP70 are found in chicken reticulocytes (16). Moreover, HSP70 is constitutively expressed in primitive chicken embryonic erythrocytes (1) and is transcribed in adult reticulocytes in the absence of heat shock (2). In the human erythroleukemia cell line K562, HSP70 expression is induced during hemin-induced maturation (25). Furthermore, a 70-kilodalton protein antigenically related to HSP70 is found in hypotonic lysates from human bone marrow (25) and in erythrocytes from several vertebrate species (R. I. Morimoto, unpublished observations).Transcription of the human HSP70 gene is mediated through multiple arrays of cis-acting promoter elements that have distinct regulatory domains for basal or heat shock and stress responsiveness (12,29,31). Consequently, it is not immediately apparent which promoter sequences mediate the expression of HSP70 in erythrocytes. To determine which promoter elements and transcription factors are involved in regulating the expression of HSP70 during erythrocyte maturation, we used the K562 cell as a model system amenable to molecular analysis.In this study, we show that hemin induces the transcription of two members of the HSP70 gene family, HSP70 and GRP78. By identifying the promoter elements required for hemin inducibility and the transcription factors induced * Corresponding author.during hemin s...