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.
HSF2 has been thought to be responsible for accumulation of HSP70 during hemin-induced differentiation of human K562 erythroleukemia cells because of accompanying acquisition of HSF2 DNA binding activity.