title: Molecular characterization of myocardial fibrosis during hypothyroidism: evidence for negative regulation of the pro-alpha1(I) collagen gene expression by thyroid hormone receptor.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to gain insights into the underlying mechanism of myocardial fibrosis during hypothyroidism. Treatment of cardiac fibroblasts with a medium lacking thyroid hormone led to a 47% increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation into the cell nuclei compared with that in untreated cells. Northern blot analysis of RNA from cardiac fibroblasts grown in a thyroid hormone depleted medium resulted in a 38% increase in the abundance of mRNA for pro-alpha1(I) collagen. At the protein level, the amount of type I collagen, as determined by immunoprecipitation, was increased either in the cell lysate (46%) of cardiac fibroblasts grown in a thyroid hormone depleted medium or in the medium (44%). The chimeric plasmid, ColCAT 3.6, contains the 5'-flanking region of the rat pro-alphal(I) collagen gene (from bases -3520 to +115) fused to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene. The plasmid was cotransfected with thyroid hormone receptor (TR) expression plasmid into rat cardiac fibroblasts and COS-l cells (monkey mesangial cells). Cells transfected with the ColCAT plasmid in the presence of thyroid hormone (100 nM T(3)) had a significant decrease (39% in fibroblasts, P<0.01; 52% in COS-1 cells, P<0.001) in CAT activity when compared to cells not exposed to thyroid hormone. Transient co-transfection of TR with various pro-alphal(I) collagen/CAT deletion constructs showed that T(3)-dependent repression was preserved with the deletion from 3520 bp of the flanking sequence to a 5' end point at position -224, indicating that a thyroid hormone-response element (TRE) was localized at the region -224 to +115. The TR-DNA binding assays demonstrated binding of the human TRbeta1 to a fragment containing a proposed TRE located between position -35 and +115 in the 5'-flanking region of the rat pro-alphal(I) collagen gene.
authors.affiliation: First Cardiovascular Division, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Y S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000235:genetics; D005355:Fibrosis; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D011347:Procollagen / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011988:Receptors, Thyroid Hormone / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013963:Thyroid Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D011347:Procollagen; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011988:Receptors, Thyroid Hormone; D013963:Thyroid Hormones; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase