Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format. Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format. Computerdatei im Fernzugriff.

Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2002. / Dateiformat: zip, Dateien im PDF-Format.

Sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) is a homodimeric plasma glycoprotein that is the major sex steroid carrier-protein in the bloodstream and functions also as a key regulator of steroid bioavailability within target tissues, such as the prostate. Additionally, SHBG binds to prostatic cell membranes via the putative and unidentified SHBG receptor (RSHBG), activating a signal transduction pathway implicated in stimulating both proliferation and expression of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in prostate cell lines in vitro. A yeast-two hybrid assay suggested an interaction between SHBG and kallikrein-related protease (KLK) 4, which is a serine protease implicated in the progression of prostate cancer. The potential interaction between these two proteins was investigated in this PhD thesis to determine whether SHBG is a proteolytic substrate of KLK4 and other members of the KLK family including KLK3/PSA, KLK7 and KLK14. Furthermore, the effects from SHBG proteolytic degradation on SHBG-regulated steroid bioavailability and the activation of the putative RSHBG signal transduction pathway were examined in the LNCaP prostate cancer cell line. SHBG was found to be a proteolytic substrate of the trypsin-like KLK4 and KLK14 in vitro, yielding several proteolysis fragments. Both chymotrypsin-like PSA and KLK7 displayed insignificant proteolytic activity against SHBG. The kinetic parameters of SHBG proteolysis by KLK4 and KLK14 demonstrate a strong enzyme-substrate binding capacity, possessing a Km of 1.2 ± 0.7 µM and 2.1 ± 0.6 µM respectively. The catalytic efficiencies (kcat/Km) of KLK4 and KLK14 proteolysis of SHBG were 1.6 x 104 M-1s-1 and 3.8 x 104 M-1s-1 respectively, which were comparable to parameters previously reported for peptide substrates. N-terminal sequencing of the fragments revealed cleavage near the junction of the N- and C-terminal laminin globulin-like (G-like) domains of SHBG, resulting in the division of the two globulins and ultimately the full degradation of these fragments by KLK4 and KLK14 over time. Proteolytic fragments that may retain steroid binding were rapidly degraded by both proteases, while fragments containing residues beyond the steroid binding pocket were less degraded over the same period of time. Degradation of SHBG was inhibited by the divalent metal cations calcium and zinc for KLK4, and calcium, zinc and magnesium for KLK14. The human secreted serine protease inhibitors (serpins), α1-antitrypsin and α2-antiplasmin, inhibited KLK4 and KLK14 proteolysis of SHBG; α1-antichymotrypsin inhibited KLK4 but not KLK14 activity. The inhibition by these serpins was comparable and in some cases more effective than general trypsin protease inhibitors such as aprotinin and phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride (PMSF). The binding of 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to SHBG modulated interactions with KLK4 and KLK14. Steroid-free SHBG was more readily digested by both enzymes than DHT-bound SHBG. Moreover, a binding interaction exists between SHBG and pro-KLK4 and pro-KLK14, with DHT strengthening the binding to pro-KLK4 only. The inhibition of androgen uptake by cultured prostate cancer cells, mediated by SHBG steroid-binding, was examined to assess whether SHBG proteolysis by KLK4 and KLK14 modulated this process. Proteolytic digestion eliminated the ability of SHBG to inhibit the uptake of DHT from conditioned media into LNCaP cells. Therefore, the proteolysis of SHBG by KLK4 and KLK14 increased steroid bioavailability in vitro, leading to an increased uptake of androgens by prostate cancer cells. Interestingly, different transcriptional responses of PSA and KLK2, which are androgen-regulated genes, to DHT-bounsd SHBG treatment were observed between low and high passage number LNCaP cells (lpLNCaP and hpLNCaP respectively). HpLNCaP cells treated with DHT-bound SHBG demonstrated a significant synergistic upregulation of PSA and KLK2 above DHT or SHBG treatment alone, which is similar to previously reported downstream responses from RSHBG-mediated signaling activation. As this result was not seen in lpLNCaP cells, only hpLNCaP cells were further investigated to examine the modulation of potential RSHBG activity by KLK4 and KLK14 proteolysis of SHBG. Contrary to reported results, no increase in intracellular cAMP was observed in hpLNCaP cells when treated with SHBG in the presence and absence of either DHT or estradiol. As a result, the modulation of RSHBG-mediated signaling activation could not be determined. Finally, the identification of the RSHBG from both breast (MCF-7) and prostate cancer (LNCaP) cell lines was attempted. Fluorescently labeled peptides corresponding to the putative receptor binding domain (RBD) of SHBG were shown to be internalized by MCF-7 cells. Crosslinking of the RBD peptide to the cell surfaces of both MCF-7 and LNCaP cells, demonstrated the interaction of the peptide with several targets. These targets were then captured using RBD peptides synthesized onto a hydrophilic scaffold and analysed by mass spectrometry. The samples captured by the RBD peptide returned statistically significantly matches for cytokeratin 8, 18 and 19 as well as microtubule-actin crosslinking factor 1, which may indicate a novel interaction between SHBG and these proteins, but ultimately failed to detect a membrane receptor potentially responsible for the putative RSHBG-mediated signaling. This PhD project has reported the proteolytic processing of SHBG by two members of the kallikrein family, KLK4 and KLK14. The effect of SHBG proteolysis by KLK4 and KLK14 on RSHBG-mediated signaling activation was unable to be determined as the reported signal transduction pathway was not activated after treatment with SHBG, in combination with either DHT or estradiol. However, the digestion of SHBG by these two proteases positively regulated androgen bioavailability to prostate cancer cells in vitro. The increased uptake of androgens is deleterious in prostate cancer due to the promotion of proliferation, metastasis, invasion and the inhibition of apoptosis. The increased bioavailability of androgens, from SHBG proteolysis by KLK4 and KLK14, may therefore promote both carcinogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. Finally, this information may contribute to the development of therapeutic treatment strategies for prostate cancer by inhibiting the proteolysis of SHBG, by KLK4 and KLK14, to prevent the increased uptake of androgens by hormone-dependent cancerous tissues.

München, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2005.

La finalitat d'aquesta tesi ha estat la d'estudiar les funcions alternatives de la proteïna transportadora d'esteroids sexuals (SHBG/ABP) a l'espermatogènesi i al càncer de pròstata. 1) A l'espermatogènesi s'ha treballat amb dos models diferents, un és el ratolí transgènic que sobreexpressa la SHBG/ABP de rata i l'altre el ratolí transgènic que sobreexpressa la SHBG/ABP humana.a) Ratolí transgènic per la SHBG/ABP de rata. La sobreexpressió del transgen de rata a nivell del testicle provoca un bloqueig parcial de la primera divisió meiòtica i un augment de la mort cel.lular programada o apoptosi de les cèl.lules germinals, especificament d'espermatocits primaris i cèl.lules en meiosi. Aquestes cèl.lules apoptòtiques sobreexpressen el mRNA i la proteïna del receptor d'estrògens beta. La proteïna, a més a més, s'acumula a nivell del citoplasma d'aquestes cèl.lules apoptòtiques.b) Ratolí transgènic per la SHBG/ABP humana. El trànscrit que s'expressa a nivell del testicle de la linia shbg11 prové del promotor alternatiu i conté l'exó alternatiu. A més a més, aquest trànscrit l'expressen les cèl.lules germinals . La proteïna SHBG/ABP humana es troba a nivell de l'acrosoma de les cèl.lules germinals durant tota la fase d'elongació de l'espermatogènesi, i a nivell de l'acrosoma dels espermatozous epididimaris.2) Al càncer de pròstata s'ha treballat amb diferents linies cel.lulars de pròstata i amb mostres de pacients amb càncer de pròstata.a) Linies cel.lulars de càncer de pròstata. S'ha treballat amb dues linies cel.lulars tumorals com són les PC3 i les LNCaP i dues linies cel.lulars normals com són les CAHVP10 i les PZHVP7. Les linies PC3 i LNCaP sobreexpressen 3 trànscrits que codifiquen per a la SHBG/ABP humana. El trànscrit majoritari dona lloc a la proteïna secretada, mentres que els dos trànscrits que falten els exons 6 i 6-7 respectivament, donen lloc a una proteïna intracel.lular. La diferència entre la linia PC3 (androgen-independent) i la linia LNCaP (androgen-depenent) és que la linia PC3 expressa la isoforma cx del receptor de estrògens beta.b) Pacients afectats de càncer de pròstata. En 4 dels 6 pacients analitzats s'expressa la SHBG/ABP humana, en 3 d'ells s'expressa el receptor d'estrògens i en tots es sobreexpressa la P450 aromatasa. La proteïna SHBG/ABP s'acumula a l'interior de les cèl.lules epitelials de les glandules tumorals en les seccions prostàtiques dels pacients analitzats. / The aim of this thesis is to study the alternative funcions of the sex hormone-binding globulin / androgen-binding protein (SHBG/ABP) during the espermatogenesis and prostate cancer.1) In the study of the espermatogenesis we have used two different models: the transgenic mice overexpressing the rat SHBG/ABP, and the transgenic mice overexpressing the human SHBG/ABP. a) Transgenic mice overexpressing rat SHBG/ABP. The overexpression of rat SHBG/ABP in the testis induces a parcial arrest of the first meiotic division and an increase of germ cell apoptosis, involving specifically primary spermatocytes and cells at metaphase. The apoptotic cells are overexpressing the mRNA and the protein for the estrogen receptor beta, and the protein acumalates in the citoplasm of this apoptotic cells. b) Transgenic mice overexpressing human SHBG/ABP. The shbg11 mouse line overexpress the mRNA for the human SHBG/ABP in the testis, and this mRNA contains the alternative exon 1 (exon A). The human mRNA is expressed by germ cells, and the protein is located in the acrosome during all the elongation sattges of spermatogenesis. 2) In the sutdy of the prostate cancer we have used prostatic tumor cell lines (PC3 and LNCaP) and prostatic normal cell lines (CAHVP10 and PZHVP7) and samples from patients with prostate cancer.a) Prostate cell lines. The tomurogenic cell lines PC3 and LNCaP overexpress three human SHBG/ABP transcripts, most abundant transcript produce secreted human SHBG/ABP protein. The other two transcripts lacking exon 6 and exon 6-7, produce intracelular human SHBG/ABP protein. The main difference between the PC3 cell line (androgen-independent) and the LNCaP cell line (androgen-dependent) is that PC3 cells are express the cx isoform of the estrogen receptor beta. b) Patients with prostate cancer. Four of the six patients analized express human SHBG/ABP mRNA. Three of them co-express the estrogen receptor beta and all of them express the P450 aromatase.The human SHBG/ABP protein is located in the epitelial cells from the tumoral glands in all the prostate sections analized from the patients with prostate cancer.

Virtual screening is a fast, low cost method to identify potential small molecule therapeutics from large chemical databases for the vast amount of target proteins emerging from the life sciences and bioinformatics. In this work, we applied several conventional and newly developed virtual screening approaches to identify novel non-steroidal ligands for the human and zebrafish sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). The ‘benchmark set of steroids’ is a set of steroids with known affinities for human SHBG that has been widely used for validation in the development of different virtual screening methods. We have updated this data set by including additional steroidal SHBG ligands and by modifying the predicted binding orientations of several benchmark steroids in the SHBG binding site based on the use of an improved docking protocol and information from recent crystallographic data. The new steroid binding orientations and the expanded version of the benchmark set was then used to create new in silico models which were applied in virtual screening to identify high-affinity non-steroidal human SHBG ligands from a large chemical database. Anthropogenic compounds with the capacity to interact with the steroid-binding site of SHBG pose health risks to humans and other vertebrates including fish. We constructed a homology model of SHBG from zebrafish and applied virtual screening to identify ligands for zebrafish SHBG from a set of 80 000 existing commercial substances, many of which can be exposed to the aquatic environment. Six hits from this in silico screen were tested experimentally for zebrafish SHBG binding and three of them, hexestrol, 4-tert-octylcatechol, dihydrobenzo(a)pyren-7(8H)-one demonstrated micromolar binding affinity for the zebrafish SHBG. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using virtual screening to identify anthropogenic compounds that may disrupt or highjack functionally important protein:ligand interactions. Studies applying this new computational toxicology method could increase the awareness of hazards posed by existing commercial chemicals at relatively low cost.

Virtual screening is a fast, low cost method to identify potential small molecule therapeutics from large chemical databases for the vast amount of target proteins emerging from the life sciences and bioinformatics. In this work, we applied several conventional and newly developed virtual screening approaches to identify novel non-steroidal ligands for the human and zebrafish sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). The ‘benchmark set of steroids’ is a set of steroids with known affinities for human SHBG that has been widely used for validation in the development of different virtual screening methods. We have updated this data set by including additional steroidal SHBG ligands and by modifying the predicted binding orientations of several benchmark steroids in the SHBG binding site based on the use of an improved docking protocol and information from recent crystallographic data. The new steroid binding orientations and the expanded version of the benchmark set was then used to create new in silico models which were applied in virtual screening to identify high-affinity non-steroidal human SHBG ligands from a large chemical database. Anthropogenic compounds with the capacity to interact with the steroid-binding site of SHBG pose health risks to humans and other vertebrates including fish. We constructed a homology model of SHBG from zebrafish and applied virtual screening to identify ligands for zebrafish SHBG from a set of 80 000 existing commercial substances, many of which can be exposed to the aquatic environment. Six hits from this in silico screen were tested experimentally for zebrafish SHBG binding and three of them, hexestrol, 4-tert-octylcatechol, dihydrobenzo(a)pyren-7(8H)-one demonstrated micromolar binding affinity for the zebrafish SHBG. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using virtual screening to identify anthropogenic compounds that may disrupt or highjack functionally important protein:ligand interactions. Studies applying this new computational toxicology method could increase the awareness of hazards posed by existing commercial chemicals at relatively low cost.

Virtual screening is a fast, low cost method to identify potential small molecule therapeutics from large chemical databases for the vast amount of target proteins emerging from the life sciences and bioinformatics. In this work, we applied several conventional and newly developed virtual screening approaches to identify novel non-steroidal ligands for the human and zebrafish sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). The ‘benchmark set of steroids’ is a set of steroids with known affinities for human SHBG that has been widely used for validation in the development of different virtual screening methods. We have updated this data set by including additional steroidal SHBG ligands and by modifying the predicted binding orientations of several benchmark steroids in the SHBG binding site based on the use of an improved docking protocol and information from recent crystallographic data. The new steroid binding orientations and the expanded version of the benchmark set was then used to create new in silico models which were applied in virtual screening to identify high-affinity non-steroidal human SHBG ligands from a large chemical database. Anthropogenic compounds with the capacity to interact with the steroid-binding site of SHBG pose health risks to humans and other vertebrates including fish. We constructed a homology model of SHBG from zebrafish and applied virtual screening to identify ligands for zebrafish SHBG from a set of 80 000 existing commercial substances, many of which can be exposed to the aquatic environment. Six hits from this in silico screen were tested experimentally for zebrafish SHBG binding and three of them, hexestrol, 4-tert-octylcatechol, dihydrobenzo(a)pyren-7(8H)-one demonstrated micromolar binding affinity for the zebrafish SHBG. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using virtual screening to identify anthropogenic compounds that may disrupt or highjack functionally important protein:ligand interactions. Studies applying this new computational toxicology method could increase the awareness of hazards posed by existing commercial chemicals at relatively low cost. / Science, Faculty of / Graduate

The thesis focuses on selected, yet unsolved question of the role of less common steroids and SHBG as a junction of three endocrine systems. Answering these questions may help to understand the complex mechanism of action of these hormones on the human organism. This thesis is based on five author and co-written studies mostly published in foreign scientific journals. In the case of studies of metabolites 16α-OH-DHEA and 7-oxo-DHEA (Zamrazilová et al., 2007; Kazihnitková et al., 2007) were focused on the development of appropriate methodological approach because recently used methods showed a low sensitivity and specificity. We developed and statistically evaluated new RIA methods which are rapid, sensitive and inexpensive. Both of them can be used in other research even in routine practice. New methods were also used to determine the metabolites in a statistically significant sample of healthy human population. In another study (Zamrazilová et al., 2010) we examined the relationships of selected steroid metabolites and SHBG in patients with CAH. We assumed that SHBG may act as a non-steroidal laboratory parameter reflecting the effectiveness of substitution therapy in these patients. Our assumption was not confirmed. We observed lower levels of SHBG which at least in women reflect effects of...