(17α,20E)-17,20-[(1-methoxyethylidene)bis(oxy)]-3-oxo-19-norpregna-4,20-diene-21-carboxylic acid methyl ester (YK11) is a partial agonist of the androgen receptor.

A novel steroid compound, (17α,20E)-17,20-[(1-methoxyethylidene)bis(oxy)]-3-oxo-19-norpregna-4,20-diene-21-carboxylic acid methyl ester (YK11), was found to be a partial agonist of the androgen receptor (AR) in an androgen responsive element (ARE)-luciferase reporter assay. YK11 accelerates nuclear translocation of AR. Furthermore, YK11 does not induce amino/carboxyl-terminal (N/C) interaction and prevents 5-α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-mediated N/C interaction. Thus, YK11 activates AR without causing N/C interaction, which may in turn be responsible for the partially agonistic nature of YK11 observed in the ARE-luciferase reporter system. YK11 acts as a gene-selective agonist of AR in MDA-MB 453 cells. The effect of YK11 on gene expression relative to that of androgen agonist varies depending on the gene context. YK11 activated the reporter gene by inducing the translocation of the AR into the nuclear compartment, where its amino-terminal domain (NTD) functions as a constitutive activator of AR target genes. Our results suggest that YK11 might act as selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM).

Identification of intracellular localization signals and of mechanisms underlining the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of human aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor.

Two members of the 'AhR family' (a family which is part of the bHLH-PAS superfamily), aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and AhR repressor (AhRR), originated from a common ancestor and form a regulatory circuit in xenobiotic signal transduction. AhRR is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttle protein, harboring both a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a nuclear export signal (NES). Because NLS is dominant over NES, AhRR resides predominantly in the nuclear compartment. The NES of AhRR resembles that of AhR in sensitivity to leptomycin B, whereas the NLS of AhRR is monopartite and is, therefore, distinguished from the reported bipartite NLS of AhR. The NLS deletion mutant of GFP-AhRR was transported into the nuclear compartment in the presence of AhR nuclear translocator (Arnt), suggesting the assembly of an AhRR/Arnt heterodimer complex in the cytoplasmic compartment and Arnt-dependent nuclear translocation of this complex.

Difference in nucleocytoplasmic shuttling sequences of rat and human constitutive active/androstane receptor.

Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) in spontaneous multinuclear cells shows that both rat and human constitutive active/androstane receptors (CARs) are shuttling proteins with both nuclear localization signals (NLSs) and nuclear export signals (NESs). We previously identified two NLSs in rat CAR: NLS1 in the hinge region (residues 100-108) and NLS2 in the ligand-binding domain (residues 111-320). In the present study, we compared the intracellular localization signals between rat and human CARs. There was a marked difference in their intracellular localization in COS-7 cells because, unlike rat CAR, human CAR does not contain NLS1 due to an amino acid change at position 106. A CRM1-dependent leucine-rich NES, which is sensitive to an inhibitory effect of leptomycin B, was found in the cytoplasmic retention region previously identified within the ligand-binding domain of rat CAR (residues 220-258). We found that human CAR instead has a NES in the ligand-binding domain between residues 170 and 220. Also, we detected CRM1-independent C-terminal NESs between residues 317-358 of rat and human CARs. Removal of NLS1 by N-terminal truncation and mutation of xenochemical response signal caused rat CAR to localize in the cytoplasm of COS-7 cells, which we suspect is due to the masking of NLS2.

The inhibitory effect of aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AhRR) on the growth of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.

The variant cell lines stably expressing aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AhRR), MCFRR1 and MCFRR4, were established from human breast cancer MCF-7 cells by transfecting with AhRR-expression construct followed by selection, in order to analyze the effect of AhRR on the cell growth and expression of cell cycle-related genes. The variant cells showed higher levels of AhRR mRNA compared with the parental cells. MCFRR4 cells grew slowly compared with MCF-7 in both cell number and proliferation rate measured by the MTS method. Among cell cycle-related genes such as E2F, cyclin E1, cyclin D1, PCNA, p53, Rb, c-myc and p27Kip1, and estrogen responsive genes such as cathepsin D and hsp27, the expression levels of E2F, cyclin E1, PCNA and cathepsin D mRNA in MCFRR4 cells were lower than those in MCF-7 cells, while those of Rb, p27Kip1, c-myc and hsp27 mRNA were not significantly affected and that of cyclin D1 mRNA was enhanced in variant cells. Based on these results, AhRR might be suppressive on cell growth of MCF-7 by disturbing the transcriptional and/or posttranscriptional regulations of estrogen-responsive and cell cycle-related genes.

Primary structure and organ-specific expression of the rat aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor gene.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AhRR) is a member of the basic helix-loop-helix/Per-Arnt-Sim (bHLH/PAS) family of transcription factors, providing a negative feedback loop with a xenobiotic or endogenous ligand-dependent signal transduction mediated by the AhR. We sequenced full-length AhRR mRNA extracted from the heart of a male Wistar rat injected intraperitoneally with 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC) 24 h before. The 95.6 kb-long AhRR genome was clarified to consist of 11 exons and 10 introns. The constitutive expression of AhRR mRNA was prominent in males when compared with females in parallel with the sexual difference in AhR expression. Although AhRR was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues tested, the levels of AhRR expression were higher in the small intestine, where the 3-MC-dependent induction of CYP1A1 transcription was less significant, than in the heart, lung, liver, and kidney. The dose-dependent suppression of AhR-dependent transcriptional activation in both the presence and absence of 3-MC was observed in rat liver-derived RL-34 cells transiently transfected with the expression plasmid for AhRR in combination with the reporter plasmid.

Expression of constitutive androstane receptor splice variants in rat liver and lung and their functional properties.

The mammalian constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) is a transcription factor that participates in controlling the expression of xenobiotic metabolizing and transporting genes in response to xenobiotics in an organ-specific manner. In addition to the wild-type CAR (CAR WT) mRNA, mRNAs for five splice variants (SVs) could be detected in the liver of 7-week-old male Wistar rats by RT-PCR using primer pairs covering a full-length mRNA derived from 9 exons; insertion of 18 bp at the 5'-end of intron 8 with or without deletion of 3 bp from the 5'-end of exon 7 (CAR SV1 or SV2), deletion of 4 bp from the 5'-end of exon 8 (CAR SV3), insertion of 195 bp intron 7 (CAR SV4), and insertion of 91 bp intron 6 (CAR SV5). In contrast, only CAR SV5 was detected in lung. Due to the introduction of novel stop codons, all the SVs were considered to code for premature proteins. The liver homogenate gave two protein bands in the vicinity of 37 kDa on Western blotting. They were attributable to CAR WT and SV-complex, respectively, based on their putative molecular weights in descending order. Upon cotransfection with the reporter plasmid, only the cells transfected with the CAR SV4-expression plasmid showed enhanced luciferase activity similar to the WT-transfected cells, for which the further splicing of the remaining intron 7 seemed to be responsible. The transactivation-defective SVs downregulated CAR WT-induced luciferase activity to some extent in the cotransfection experiments.

Characterization of nuclear localization signals and cytoplasmic retention region in the nuclear receptor CAR.

The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) is a ligand/activator-dependent transactivation factor that resides in the cytoplasm and forms part of an as yet unidentified protein complex. Upon stimulation, CAR translocates into the nucleus where it modulates the transactivation of target genes. However, CAR exogenously expressed in rat liver RL-34 cells is located in the nucleus even in the absence of activators. By transiently transfecting RL-34 cells with various mutated rat CAR segments, we identified two nuclear localization signals: a basic amino acid-rich sequence (RRARQARRR) between amino acids 100 and 108; and an assembly of noncontiguous residues widely spread over amino acid residues 111 to 320 within the ligand binding domain. A C-terminal leucine-rich segment corresponding to a previously reported murine xenochemical response signal was not found to exhibit nuclear import activity in cultured cells. Using rat primary hepatocytes transfected with various CAR segments, we identified the region required for the cytoplasmic retention of CAR. Based on these results, the intracellular localization of CAR would be determined by the combined effects of nuclear localization signals, the xenochemical response signal, and the cytoplasmic retention region.

Diurnal difference in CAR mRNA expression.

BACKGROUND: The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR, NR1I3) plays a key role in the transcriptional activation of genes that encode xenobiotic/steroid and drug metabolizing enzymes. RESULTS: The expression of CAR mRNA throughout the circadian rhythm is reported for the first time in phase with the clock gene Bmal1 and in antiphase with the clock-controlled gene Rev-erbalpha mRNAs, with a peak at Zeitgeber time (ZT) 20 and a trough at ZT8, and a peak/trough ratio of 2.0. The diurnal difference in CAR mRNA expression might underlie the 1.7-fold difference in the magnitude of the PB-dependent induction of CYP2B1/2 mRNA. CONCLUSION: The circadian oscillation of xenosensor gene CAR mRNA expression is partially responsible for chronopharmacokinetics and chronopharmacology in disease.