Modulation by Steroid Receptor Coactivator-1 of Target-Tissue Responsiveness in Resistance to Thyroid Hormone
Abstract Mutations in the thyroid hormone receptor-β gene (TRβ) cause resistance to thyroid hormone. How the action of mutant thyroid hormone nuclear receptors (TRs) is regulated in vivo is not clear. We examined the effect of a TR coactivator, steroid receptor coactivator-1 (SRC-1), on target-tissue responsiveness by using a mouse model of resistance to thyroid hormone, TRβPV knockin mice, in the SRC-1 null background. Lack of SRC-1 intensified the dysfunction of the pituitary-thyroid axis and impaired growth in TRβPV/+ mice but not in TRβPV/PV mice. In TRβPV/PV mice, however, lack of SRC-1 intensified the pathological progression of thyroid follicular cells to papillary hyperplasia, reminiscent of papillary neoplasia. In contrast, lack of SRC-1 did not affect responsiveness in the liver in regulating serum cholesterol in either TRβPV/+ or TRβPV/PV mice. Lack of SRC-1 led to changes in the abnormal expression patterns of several T3 target genes in the pituitary and liver. Thus, the present studies show that a coactivator such as SRC-1 could modulate the in vivo action of TRβ mutants in a tissue-dependent manner.