Epidemiological studies indicate that the amount and content of dietary lipid nutrients influence the development of colon cancer. The peroxisomal proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the retinoid-x-receptor (RXR) heterodimeric family of transcriptional regulators, and activate gene transcription in response to fatty acids and their metabolites. PPAR-gamma and PPAR-delta (beta) are in the colon and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of colon cancer. PPARs must heterodimerize with RXRs in order to bind to DNA response elements. RXRs bind 9-cis-retinoic acids, which is a vitamin A metabolite, and has recently been shown to also bind docosahexaenoic acid. RXRs also form homodimers and are obligate partners for a number of other nuclear receptors that are in intestinal epithelial cells. Thus the PPARs participate in mixed assembly of receptors that interact with RXR. We propose to test the hypothesis that RXR-PPAR heterodimers play an important role in mediating lipid nutrient signals in intestinal cells. We propose to directly measure RXR, PPAR, and RXR-PPAR heterodimer levels in intestinal cells that are grown in culture, or epithelial cells isolated from mouse colons. We plan to measure the functional consequences of altering RXR-PPAR heterodimer formation in vitro by using Caco-2 cells, which are derived from a primary human colon carcinoma and in vivo by using genetically engineered mouse models. We will search for somatic mutations and splicing variants in RXR-alpha that are associated with human colon cancers. To understand the structural basis for RXR-PPAR heterodimerization we will map the minimal peptide domain in PPAR-gamma that can disrupt RXR-PPAR interactions. We propose to study intraheterodimerization interactions between RXR and the minimal peptide by nuclear magnetic resonance techniques.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DK059501-03
Application #
6690707
Study Section
General Medicine A Subcommittee 2 (GMA)
Program Officer
Hamilton, Frank A
Project Start
2002-02-15
Project End
2007-01-31
Budget Start
2004-02-01
Budget End
2005-01-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$359,550
Indirect Cost
Name
Washington University
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
068552207
City
Saint Louis
State
MO
Country
United States
Zip Code
63130
Lu, Jianyun; Dawson, Marcia I; Hu, Qiong Ying et al. (2009) The effect of antagonists on the conformational exchange of the retinoid X receptor alpha ligand-binding domain. Magn Reson Chem 47:1071-80
Lu, Jianyun; Chen, Minghe; Stanley, Susan E et al. (2008) Effect of heterodimer partner RXRalpha on PPARgamma activation function-2 helix in solution. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 365:42-6
Lu, Jianyun; Chen, Minghe; Dekoster, Gregory T et al. (2008) The RXRalpha C-terminus T462 is a NMR sensor for coactivator peptide binding. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 366:932-7
Lu, Jianyun; Cistola, David P; Li, Ellen (2006) Analysis of ligand binding and protein dynamics of human retinoid X receptor alpha ligand-binding domain by nuclear magnetic resonance. Biochemistry 45:1629-39
Lu, Jianyun; Cistola, David P; Li, Ellen (2003) Two homologous rat cellular retinol-binding proteins differ in local conformational flexibility. J Mol Biol 330:799-812