Activins and certain BMPs are members of the TGF-beta superfamily that regulate FSH production by the anterior pituitary. They and their receptors also have diverse endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine actions throughout the reproductive, endocrine and other systems and play key roles in development and in pathophysiologic processes. Inhibins oppose some, but not all actions of activin and are crucial for survival as illustrated by the lethal phenotype of inhibin alpha null mice, which suffer gonadal and adrenal tumors and liver necrosis. To exert cellular effects, activins (beta-beta dimers) bind their type II receptor serine kinases (ActRII or ActRIIB) and then recruit the type I receptor serine kinase (ALK4) to form active complexes that initiate downstream signaling. Inhibins (alpha-beta dimers) compete with activins for binding to ActRII but the inhibin/ActRII complexes do not recruit ALK4 or promote signaling. Inhibins are potent functional antagonists of activin yet the relatively low affinity of inhibins compared to activin for ActRII was not in keeping with a simple competition model. Thus other components were sought and during the past grant period we identified betaglycan (TGF-beta type III receptor) as a high affinity inhibin binding protein (co-receptor) that facilitates inhibin binding to ActRII and, thereby, greatly increases the potency of inhibin to antagonize activin signaling. In model systems we have demonstrated that inhibin can antagonize responses to some BMPs.
Under Aim I, these findings will be extended to test if inhibins antagonize the effects of BMPs on pituitary cells. We will continue to characterize the binding interactions between inhibins, betaglycan, and the type II receptors, ActRII, ActRIIB and BMPRII. We will identify the betaglycan residues and regions required for inhibin binding and will produce minimized soluble betaglycan forms that will be used for biochemical and structural (with Project II) studies. Identification of the critical interactive surfaces and regions of these proteins will facilitate efforts to devise strategies for modulating inhibin responses.
Aim II proposes to block betaglycan or disrupt its expression in inhibin-responsive cell types including pituitary gonadotropes. In vitro and in vivo experiments will test the importance of betaglycan as an obligate mediator of inhibin actions. Finally, under Aim III we will search for additional inhibin co-receptors. We and others have evidence for the existence of multiple inhibin binding proteins including probable variants of betaglycan, which we propose to characterize. These studies will improve our understanding of the mechanisms of inhibin action and will help identify targets for the control of fertility and management of reproductive disorders.
| Muenster, Uwe; Korupolu, Radhika; Rastogi, Ratindra et al. (2011) Antagonism of activin by activin chimeras. Vitam Horm 85:105-28 |
| Kim, Meejung; Choe, Senyon (2011) BMPs and their clinical potentials. BMB Rep 44:619-34 |
| Looyenga, Brendan D; Wiater, Ezra; Vale, Wylie et al. (2010) Inhibin-A antagonizes TGFbeta2 signaling by down-regulating cell surface expression of the TGFbeta coreceptor betaglycan. Mol Endocrinol 24:608-20 |
| Valera, Elvira; Isaacs, Michael J; Kawakami, Yasuhiko et al. (2010) BMP-2/6 heterodimer is more effective than BMP-2 or BMP-6 homodimers as inductor of differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. PLoS One 5:e11167 |
| Isaacs, Michael J; Kawakami, Yasuhiko; Allendorph, George P et al. (2010) Bone morphogenetic protein-2 and -6 heterodimer illustrates the nature of ligand-receptor assembly. Mol Endocrinol 24:1469-77 |
| Hassold, Terry; Hunt, Patricia (2009) Maternal age and chromosomally abnormal pregnancies: what we know and what we wish we knew. Curr Opin Pediatr 21:703-8 |
| Wiater, Ezra; Lewis, Kathy A; Donaldson, Cynthia et al. (2009) Endogenous betaglycan is essential for high-potency inhibin antagonism in gonadotropes. Mol Endocrinol 23:1033-42 |
| Cheng, Edith Y; Hunt, Patricia A; Naluai-Cecchini, Theresa A et al. (2009) Meiotic recombination in human oocytes. PLoS Genet 5:e1000661 |
| Ciarmela, Pasquapina; Wiater, Ezra; Smith, Sean M et al. (2009) Presence, actions, and regulation of myostatin in rat uterus and myometrial cells. Endocrinology 150:906-14 |
| Blount, Amy L; Vaughan, Joan M; Vale, Wylie W et al. (2008) A Smad-binding element in intron 1 participates in activin-dependent regulation of the follistatin gene. J Biol Chem 283:7016-26 |
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