scholarly journals Alteration in localization of steroid hormone receptors and coregulatory proteins in follicles from cows with induced ovarian follicular cysts

Reproduction ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 144 (6) ◽  
pp. 723-735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia R Salvetti ◽  
Natalia S Alfaro ◽  
Melisa M L Velázquez ◽  
Ayelen N Amweg ◽  
Valentina Matiller ◽  
...  

Cystic ovarian disease (COD) is an important cause of infertility in cattle. The altered follicular dynamics and cellular differentiation observed in COD may be mediated through a disruption of the expression of steroid receptors and their associated transcriptional cofactors. The aim of this study was to determine the protein expression profiles of ESR1, ESR2, PGR, AR, NCOA3, NCOR2, and PHB2 (REA) in ovarian follicles in an experimental model of COD induced by the administration of ACTH. Ovaries were collected and follicles were dissected from heifers during the follicular phase (control) or from heifers treated with ACTH to induce the formation of ovarian follicular cysts. Ovaries were fixed, sectioned, and stained immunohistochemically for steroid receptors and the associated transcription factors. The relative expression of ESR1 was similar in follicular cysts and in tertiary follicles from both control and cystic cows and was significantly higher than in secondary follicles. The expression of ESR2 in the granulosa was higher in cystic follicles. No differences were seen for PGR. The expression of androgen receptor was significantly increased in tertiary follicles with lower immunostaining in cysts. The expression of NCOA3 was observed in the granulosa and theca with a significantly increased expression in the theca interna of cystic follicles. The highest levels of NCOR2 expression in granulosa, theca interna, and theca externa were observed in cysts. In granulosa cells, NCOR2 levels increase progressively as follicles mature and the treatment had no effect. In summary, ovaries from animals with induced COD exhibited altered steroid receptor expression compared with normal animals, as well as changes in the expression of their regulators. It is reasonable to suggest that in conditions characterized by altered ovulation and follicular persistence, such as COD, changes in the intra-ovarian expression of these proteins could play a role in their pathogenesis.

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. nrs.14001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingfeng Zheng ◽  
Leigh C. Murphy

Cell cycle progression is tightly controlled by several kinase families including Cyclin-Dependent Kinases, Polo-Like Kinases, and Aurora Kinases. A large amount of data show that steroid hormone receptors and various components of the cell cycle, including cell cycle regulated kinases, interact, and this often results in altered transcriptional activity of the receptor. Furthermore, steroid hormones, through their receptors, can also regulate the transcriptional expression of genes that are required for cell cycle regulation. However, emerging data suggest that steroid hormone receptors may have roles in cell cycle progression independent of their transcriptional activity. The following is a review of how steroid receptors and their coregulators can regulate or be regulated by the cell cycle machinery, with a particular focus on roles independent of transcription in G2/M.


2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 517-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Hombach-Klonisch ◽  
A Kehlen ◽  
P A Fowler ◽  
B Huppertz ◽  
J F Jugert ◽  
...  

Information on the regulation of steroid hormone receptors and their distinct functions within the human endometrial epithelium is largely unavailable. We have immortalized human primary endometrial epithelial cells (EECs) isolated from a normal proliferative phase endometrium by stably transfecting the catalytic subunit (hTERT) of the human telomerase complex and cultured these hTERT-EECs now for over 350 population doublings. Active hTERT was detected in hTERT-EECs employing the telomerase repeat amplification assay protocol. hTERT-EECs revealed a polarized, non-invasive epithelial phenotype with apical microvilli and production of a basal lamina when grown on a three-dimensional collagen–fibroblast lattice. Employing atomic force microscopy, living hTERT-EECs were shown to produce extracellular matrix (ECM) components and ECM secretion was modified by estrogen and progesterone (P4). hTERT-EECs expressed inducible and functional endogenous estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) as demonstrated by estrogen response element reporter assays and induction of P4 receptor (PR). P4 treatment down-regulated PR expression, induced MUC-1 gene activity and resulted in increased ER-beta transcriptional activity. Gene activities of cytokines and their receptors interleukin (IL)-6, leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), IL-11 and IL-6 receptor (IL6-R), LIF receptor and gp130 relevant to implantation revealed a 17 beta-estradiol (E2)-mediated up-regulation of IL-6 and an E2- and P4-mediated up-regulation of IL6-R in hTERT-EECs. Thus, hTERT-EECs may be regarded as a novel in vitro model to investigate the role of human EECs in steroid hormone-dependent normal physiology and pathologies, including implantation failure, endometriosis and endometrial cancer.


2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 16059-16059
Author(s):  
C. Zamagni ◽  
R. M. Wirtz ◽  
P. De Iaco ◽  
A. Altimari ◽  
K. Roth ◽  
...  

16059 Background: Despite a high response rate to CHT the prognosis of pts with advanced EOC remains poor. The molecular analysis of pre- and post-CHT tumor specimen may enable the identification of CHT resistant tumor cell populations and thereby lead to adapted treatment options. Methods: Stage III-IV EOC pts diagnosed by laparoscopy and biopsy and not suitable for optimal debulking surgery were eligible. Gene-expression profiles generated from total RNA using the Affymetrix U133A oligonucleotide microarray containing over 22,000 probe sets were obtained at diagnosis and on surgical specimens after 6 courses of primary carboplatin/paclitaxel CHT. Initial comparative analysis focused on proliferative and invasive tumor activity, and on growth factor- and hormone receptors expression. Results: 30 pts were enrolled and data were analyzed according to response to CHT and to time to relapse after surgery. Initial expression analysis results reveal that the quantitative determination of growth factor- and hormone receptors in pre- and post-treatment samples can be used to discriminate responders from non-responders and relates to clinical outcome. Moreover, multiple CHT-resistant tumor cell populations displayed pronounced estrogen receptor expression suggesting a role of hormone receptors in the development of CHT resistance. Conclusions: While hormonal therapies are used in the treatment of other endocrine related tumors, they are not approved for the treatment of EOC. Treatment of EOC cell lines with estrogens down-regulates GnRH activity and promotes cell growth, while tamoxifen has an opposite effect. However, further biological data are lacking in this setting and only few clinical trials have addressed this possibility so far. We have found that the expression of hormone receptors in vivo persists in CHT-resistant tumor cell populations after CHT for EOC. We suggest that hormone receptor activity contributes to the initial development of CHT resistance; hence endocrine therapies particularly in an early setting may be advantageous to a subset of pts and are worth studying. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 4113-4123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie J. Deroo ◽  
Claudia Rentsch ◽  
Sowmini Sampath ◽  
Janel Young ◽  
Donald B. DeFranco ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway regulates the turnover of many transcription factors, including steroid hormone receptors such as the estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor. For these receptors, proteasome inhibition interferes with steroid-mediated transcription. We show here that proteasome inhibition with MG132 results in increased accumulation of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), confirming that it is likewise a substrate for the ubiquitin-proteasome degradative pathway. Using the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter integrated into tissue culture cells, we found that proteasome inhibition synergistically increases GR-mediated transactivation. This increased activation was observed in a number of cell lines and on various MMTV templates, either as transiently transfected reporters or stably integrated into chromatin. These observations suggest that the increase in GR-mediated transcription due to proteasome inhibition may occur downstream of the initial chromatin remodeling step. In support of this concept, the increase in transcription did not correlate with an increase in chromatin remodeling, as measured by restriction enzyme hypersensitivity, or transcription factor loading, as exemplified by nuclear factor 1. To investigate the relationship between GR turnover, transcription, and subnuclear trafficking, we examined the effect of proteasome inhibition on the mobility of the GR within the nucleus and association of the GR with the nuclear matrix. Blocking GR turnover reduced the mobility of the GR within the nucleus, and this correlated with increased association of the receptor with the nuclear matrix. As a result of proteasome inhibition, GR mobility within the nucleus was reduced while its association with the nuclear matrix was increased. Thus, while altered nuclear mobility of steroid receptors may be a common feature of proteasome inhibition, GR is unique in its enhanced transactivation activity that results when proteasome function is compromised. Proteasomes may therefore impact steroid receptor action at multiple levels and exert distinct effects on individual receptor types.


2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L Filby ◽  
Karen L Thorpe ◽  
Charles R Tyler

Complex interrelationships in the signalling of oestrogenic effects mean that environmental oestrogens present in the aquatic environment have the potential to disrupt physiological function in fish in a more complex manner than portrayed in the present literature. Taking a broader approach to investigate the possible effect pathways and the likely consequences of environmental oestrogen exposure in fish, the effects of 17β-oestradiol (E2) were studied on the expression of a suite of genes which interact to mediate growth, development and thyroid and interrenal function (growth hormone GH (gh), GH receptor (ghr ), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) (igf1), IGF-I receptor (igf1r ), thyroid hormone receptors-α (thra) and -β (thrb) and glucocorticoid receptor (gr )) together with the expression analyses of sex-steroid receptors and ten other genes centrally involved in sexual development and reproduction in fathead minnow (fhm; Pimephales promelas). Exposure of adult fhm to 35 ng E2/l for 14 days induced classic oestrogen biomarker responses (hepatic oestrogen receptor 1 and plasma vitellogenin), and impacted on the reproductive axis, feminising ‘male’ steroidogenic enzyme expression profiles and suppressing genes involved in testis differentiation. However, E2 also triggered a cascade of responses for gh, ghr, igf1, igf1r, thra, thrb and gr in the pituitary, brain, liver, gonad and gill, with potential consequences for the functioning of many physiological processes, not just reproduction. Molecular responses to E2 were complex, with most genes showing differential responses between tissues and sexes. For example, igf1 expression increased in brain but decreased in gill on exposure to E2, and responded in an opposite way in males compared with females in liver, gonad and pituitary. These findings demonstrate the importance of developing a deeper understanding of the endocrine interactions for unravelling the mechanisms of environmental oestrogen action and predicting the likely health consequences.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (07) ◽  
pp. 756-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Alfer ◽  
Lars Happel ◽  
Ralf Dittrich ◽  
Matthias Beckmann ◽  
Arndt Hartmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction This study investigated subfertile patients with abnormally thin endometrium after infertility treatment. As they had adequate serum concentrations of hormones, an endometrial factor for subfertility was suspected. Methods To elucidate the cause of subfertility, endometrial biopsies were taken in each patient in the late proliferative and mid-secretory phases of one menstrual cycle. Endometrial biopsies from women with normal menstrual cycles and confirmed fertility who were undergoing hysterectomy for benign uterine disease were used as positive controls. The tissue samples were investigated for steroid hormone receptor expression and for the proliferation marker Ki-67. Immunohistochemistry was performed with antibodies against the marker molecules for endometrial receptivity – β3 integrin, VEGF, LIF, and CD56 (large granular lymphocytes, LGLs). Results The steroid hormone receptors for estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P) were expressed normally (at the first biopsy) and were down-regulated (at the second biopsy) within the cycle. Strikingly, all of the marker molecules investigated showed negative or weak and inadequate expression in the mid-secretory phase. Numbers of LGLs remained as low as in the proliferative phase. In contrast, fertile patients were found to express these marker molecules distinctly in the mid-secretory phase. Conclusions It may be hypothesized that a severe deficiency of these angiogenesis-related marker molecules leads to defective development of the endometrium, which remains thin. Deficient angiogenetic development may thus provide an explanation for the endometrial factor that causes infertility. Further investigations will need to focus on identifying the regulating factors that act between steroid receptor activation and the expression of these marker molecules.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuradha Mishra ◽  
Mosami Galvankar ◽  
Neha Singh ◽  
Shantashri Vaidya ◽  
Uddhav Chaudhari ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEndometriosis is a chronic incurable disorder of unknown etiology affecting a large proportion of women in reproductive age. In order to understand the pathogenesis and preclinical testing of drugs,animal models that recapitulate the key features of the disorder are highly desirous. Herein, we describe the ontogeny of the ectopic endometrial lesion in a mouse model where uterine tissue was ligated to the intestinal mesentery and the animals were followed up from day 5 to day 60 post-surgery. Out of 60 animals that underwent surgery, 58 developed endometriosis using this strategy. Most lesions were pale, fluid filled while red lesions were seen in ~10% of animals. Histologically, in most animals there was one large cystic gland with well differentiated epithelium, in 13% of animals there was mixed phenotype (well and poorly differentiated). There was extensive stromal compaction and increased number of macrophages in ectopic lesions. During the course of endometriosis, there was an increase in number of PCNA positive epithelial and stromal cells. The epithelial cells at all the time point were cytokeratin positive and the stroma was vimentin positive. However, at day 30 and 60, the stromal cells were also cytokeratin positive. The mRNA levels of estrogen receptorsEsr1andGper1were reduced while those ofEsr2were elevated as compared to normal endometrium, the levels of progesterone receptor (Pgr) were found to be downregulated in ectopic lesions as compared to control. However, these differences were not statistically significant due to high biological variability. Low abundance ofCyp19a1transcripts (aromatase gene) were only detected in the ectopic endometrium. Immunohistochemically, the expression of ERα and ERβ was significantly reduced only in stromal cells; the epithelial cell staining was maintained. GPER1 and PR immunoreactivity was significantly low in both epithelial and stromal cells. The immunostaining of all the steroid receptors was highly heterogeneous in the ectopic tissues with some areas of sections had stained intensely while others had negligible staining. We propose that temporal and spatial difference in the expression of steroid hormone receptors during the course of endometriosis development coupled with micro-heterogeneity may alter the effectiveness of steroid hormone analogues resulting in variable outcomes and often failure of therapy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry K. Bayele

Abstract SIRT1 and orthologous sirtuins regulate a universal mechanism of ageing and thus determine lifespan across taxa; however, the precise mechanism remains vexingly polemical. They also protect against many metabolic and ageing-related diseases by dynamically integrating several processes including autophagy, proteostasis, calorie restriction, circadian rhythmicity and metabolism. These sirtuins are therefore important drug targets particularly because they also transduce allosteric signals from sirtuin-activating compounds such as resveratrol into increased healthspan in evolutionarily diverse organisms. While many of these functions are apparently regulated by deacetylation, that mechanism may not be all-encompassing. Since gonadal signals have been shown to regulate ageing/lifespan in worms and flies, the present study hypothesized that these sirtuins may act as intermediary factors for steroid hormone signal transduction. Accordingly, SIRT1 and its orthologues, Sir2 and Sir-2.1, are shown to be veritable nuclear receptor coregulators that classically coactivate the oestrogen receptor in the absence of ligand; coactivation was further increased by 17β-oestradiol. Remarkably in response to the worm steroid hormone dafachronic acid, SIRT1 reciprocally coactivates DAF-12, the steroid receptor that regulates nematode lifespan. These results suggest that steroid hormones may co-opt and modulate a phyletically conserved mechanism of sirtuin signalling through steroid receptors. Hence, it is interesting to speculate that certain sirtuin functions including prolongevity and metabolic regulation may be mechanistically linked to this endocrine signalling pathway; this may also have implications for understanding the determinative role of gonadal steroids such as oestradiol in human ageing. At its simplest, this report shows evidence for a hitherto unknown deacetylation-independent mechanism of sirtuin signalling.


2021 ◽  
Vol 478 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-461
Author(s):  
Martin Stortz ◽  
Diego M. Presman ◽  
Adali Pecci ◽  
Valeria Levi

Steroid receptors (SRs) encompass a family of transcription factors that regulate the expression of thousands of genes upon binding to steroid hormones and include the glucocorticoid, androgen, progesterone, estrogen and mineralocorticoid receptors. SRs control key physiological and pathological processes, thus becoming relevant drug targets. As with many other nuclear proteins, hormone-activated SRs concentrate in multiple discrete foci within the cell nucleus. Even though these foci were first observed ∼25 years ago, their exact structure and function remained elusive. In the last years, new imaging methodologies and theoretical frameworks improved our understanding of the intranuclear organization. These studies led to a new paradigm stating that many membraneless nuclear compartments, including transcription-related foci, form through a liquid–liquid phase separation process. These exciting ideas impacted the SR field by raising the hypothesis of SR foci as liquid condensates involved in transcriptional regulation. In this work, we review the current knowledge about SR foci formation under the light of the condensate model, analyzing how these structures may impact SR function. These new ideas, combined with state-of-the-art techniques, may shed light on the biophysical mechanisms governing the formation of SR foci and the biological function of these structures in normal physiology and disease.


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