Liganded Thyroid Hormone Receptor Research Articles

Retinoid X receptor-alpha and apolipoprotein AI regulatory protein 1 differentially modulate 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine-induced transcription.

The formation of heterodimers with thyroid hormone receptor (TR) and other nuclear hormone receptors on thyroid hormone response elements (TREs) is important for T3-regulated gene transcription. The potential roles of retinoid X receptor-alpha (RXR alpha) and apolipoprotein regulatory protein-1 (ARP-1) in T3-mediated transcription were studied on a well characterized TRE, a direct repeat of AGGTCA separated by four nucleotides (DR4), using electrophoretic mobility shift assays and transient transfection in CV-1 cells. It was shown that RXR alpha blocked liganded TR alpha-induced transcription. However, ARP-1 did not block T3/TR alpha-mediated transcription, although both TR alpha/RXR alpha and TR alpha/ARP-1 heterodimers had similar affinities for the TRE-DR4. In contrast, wild type ARP-1 reversed the blocking effect of RXR alpha on the liganded TR alpha-induced transcription, whereas a dimerization domain-deleted ARP-1 mutant (ARP-1 delta C) did not, suggesting that ARP-1 modulates T3-induced transcription through a dimerization process. Thus, the TRE-DR4 differentially responds to T3 at the transcriptional level by accommodating a battery of TR heterodimeric complexes.

Steroid hormone receptors selectively affect transcriptional activation but not basal repression by thyroid hormone receptors.

Thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) and steroid hormone receptors belong to a large superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors. The interactions between these receptor subfamilies are poorly understood. In this study, cotransfection assays were used to examine the effects of estrogen and glucocorticoid receptors on TR-mediated repression of basal transcription by unliganded TR and transcriptional activation by liganded TR with two different thyroid hormone response element-containing reporter plasmids. Surprisingly, it was found that steroid hormone receptors blocked T3-mediated transcriptional activation with little or no effect on basal repression by unliganded TR. The mechanism for blocking TR-mediated transcriptional activation does not require steroid hormone receptor binding to the thyroid hormone response element but, rather, may involve titration of a critical coactivator(s) required for T3-mediated transcriptional activation. These studies strongly suggest divergent pathways for transcriptional activation and basal repression by TRs. Additionally, these studies raise the potential for nuclear hormone receptors to modulate TR-mediated transcriptional activation in steroid hormone-responsive tissues.

Unliganded thyroid hormone receptor inhibits formation of a functional preinitiation complex: implications for active repression.

The thyroid hormone receptor (TR) belongs to the steroid/nuclear receptor superfamily of ligand-inducible transcription factors. Numerous studies using transient transfection assays have demonstrated that in the absence of thyroid hormone (T3), unliganded TR acts as a constitutive repressor of transcription on genes bearing TR-response elements. We examined the molecular mechanism of TR repression in vitro using both HeLa nuclear extracts and purified basal factors. Here, we show that unliganded TR is an active transcriptional repressor, distinct from passive repressors that compete with activators for DNA binding. Repression by TR can be relieved by adding the T3 analog triiodothyroactic acid, suggesting that liganded TR undergoes a conformational change that masks or disrupts the repressor function. Repression by TR is mediated through the basal transcription machinery and can occur independently of previously characterized TATA-binding protein-associated cofactors thought to be involved in either basal repression or activator-dependent transcription. TR inhibits transcription at an early step during preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly, as preassembled PICs are refractory to the inhibitory effects of TR.

Thyroid hormone alters the DNA binding properties of chicken thyroid hormone receptors alpha and beta.

The effects of thyroid hormone agonists on thyroid hormone receptor (TR)/DNA complex formation was investigated to elucidate the mechanism by which TRs transactivate genes in response to ligand. The data, obtained from gel shift experiments, indicate that thyroid hormones alter the conformation of TRs bound to DNA, irrespective of if the element is occupied by monomeric TR, homodimeric TR/TR, or heterodimeric complexes with the retinoid receptors RAR or RXR. Furthermore, triiodo-thyronine (T3) prevents 2 TR molecules from binding to oligonucleotides containing direct repeats or inverted palindromes of the consensus AGGTCA motif, an effect that was not detected with palindromic elements. Heterodimers bound to direct repeats were less affected: RXR/TR were fully and RAR/TR complexes partially resistant to thyroid hormone. The data suggest that a ligand-induced conformational change in TR prevents double TR occupancy of a response element containing 2 direct repeats of the consensus binding motif, possibly by steric hindrance, whereas such an event does not prevent TR/RXR heterodimers from binding to DNA. Finally, our data show that a monomeric, liganded TR bound preferentially to the second half site in a AGGTCActcaAGGTCA element, and therefore indicate that nucleotides adjacent to the consensus half site contribute to binding specificity.

Mutational Analysis Identifies a New Functional Domain of the Thyroid Hormone Receptor

We studied the functional significance of a region of the thyroid hormone receptor ligand binding domain which is conserved in all members of the erbA superfamily. The homologous region of the glucocorticoid receptor has been implicated in the binding of heat shock protein 90, and deletions of the glucocorticoid receptor that include this region result in constitutive activity. Both deletion and point mutations were made in this area of the rat beta 1 thyroid hormone receptor (amino acids 286-305), and the functional consequences of these mutations were analyzed in JEG cells by transient cotransfection along with a T3 responsive reporter gene. All mutations studied resulted in significant inhibition of ligand-dependent transcriptional regulation without inducing significant constitutive activity. For some mutations, the lack of transcriptional response correlated with a diminished ability to bind ligand. However, point mutations of amino acids 288, 290, and 300 resulted in impaired transcriptional regulation despite wild type T3 binding affinity. In addition, mutations of these three amino acids failed to impair localization of the receptor to the nucleus or binding to DNA in vitro. Cotransfection of plasmids expressing the wild type and mutant T3 receptor proteins resulted in inhibition of the wild type T3 receptor function. We conclude that this region of the rat beta 1 T3 receptor is essential for full transcriptional activity, but this is not due to a role in T3 binding, DNA binding, or nuclear localization. We postulate that nuclear factors may need to bind to this region for full transcriptional activity.