Characterization of the Role of Transferrin Receptor 1 in the Intestinal Epithelium, Pancreas, and Skin

The study investigated the role of Transferrin receptor 1 (Tfr1) in various tissues using conditional knockout mouse models. Tfr1 was found to be crucial for maintaining homeostasis in the intestinal epithelium, pancreas, and skin. In the intestinal epithelium, Tfr1 deletion led to disrupted homeostasis and early neonatal lethality, which could be partially rescued by a mutant Tfr1 allele, indicating a novel role beyond iron assimilation. In the pancreas, Tfr1 deletion caused juvenile death due to disrupted endocrine and exocrine tissue homeostasis, with effects primarily in exocrine tissue. In the skin, Tfr1 deletion resulted in neonatal lethality with abnormal hair follicle morphology and reduced dermal adipocytes. These findings highlighted Tfr1's pleiotropic effects and suggested non-canonical functions in the intestinal epithelium.