Biological significance of glucocorticoid receptor beta / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

Alternative splicing of the human glucocorticoid receptor (hGR) primary transcript produces two receptor isoforms, termed hGRα and hGRβ. hGRα is a ligand-activated transcription factor which, in the hormone-bound state, modulates the expression of glucocorticoid-responsive genes by binding to specific glucocorticoid response element (GRE) DNA sequences. In contrast, hGRβ dose not bind glucocorticoids and is transcriptionally inactive. We demonstrate here that hGRβ inhibits the hormone-induced, hGRα-mediated stimulations of gene expression, including glucocorticoid-responsive reporter gene (cat) and endogenous p21 gene. We also demonstrate that hGRβ can inhibit hGRα-mediated regulation of proliferation and differentiation of a human osteosarcoma cell line (HOS-8603). Our studies on the expression of hGR mRNA in nephrotic syndrome patients indicate that the hGRα/hGRβ mRNA ratio in peripheral white blood cell of hormone-resistant patients is lower than that of hormone-sensitive patients and health volunteers. These results indicate that hGRβ may be a physiologically and pathophysiologically relevant endogenous inhibitor of hGRα