The expression of VHL/HIF signaling pathway in the erythroid progenitor cells with chronic mountain sickness

To investigate the expression and interaction of VHL/HIF-α pathways including HIF-1α, HIF-2α as well as VHL in erythroid progenitor cells of bone marrow from chronic mountain sickness (CMS) patients. A total of 25 patients with CMS and 21 healthy controls were recruited for this study. The CD71(+)CD235a(+) cells in bone marrow mononuclear cells, marked as erythroid progenitor cells, were isolated using MACS separation technology. The expression levels of HIF-1α, HIF-2α and VHL in erythroid progenitor cells were detected by Western blotting and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. The mRNA levels of HIF-2α were higher in erythroid progenitor cells of CMS than in healthy controls [1.68 (0.81, 2.22) vs 0.98 (0.60, 1.19), 0.05], while HIF-1α and VHL mRNA levels were similar between the two groups ( 0.05). Spearman analyses indicated that HIF-2α mRNA was positively associated with hemoglobin (Hb) levels in the erythroid progenitor cells of CMS ( =0.504, 0.05). Furthermore, the mRNA level of HIF-2α was correlat