Calciferols: actions and deficiencies in action.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Eil.
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Endocrine studies in men with pubertal macromastia (PM) have failed to reveal a hormonal abnormality to account for the disorder. As a result, it has been hypothesized that this form of gynecomastia may be a manifestation of a target organ abnormality. Because the syndromes of apparent androgen resistance, such as testicular feminization and Reifenstein's Syndrome, are associated with gynaecomastia, we examined skin fibroblasts cultured from men with pubertal macromastia for androgen receptor defects. We studied 12 men with PM and confirmed that plasma concentrations of testosterone, oestradiol, gonadotrophins, and prolactin, were all within the normal range; findings identical to those of a similar series of patients previously reported. Androgen receptor content (R0) and binding affinity (Kd) in cultured areolar and pubic skin fibroblasts were measured using a dispersed, whole cell assay. Nineteen areolar cell lines from the 12 patients with PM were compared with 4 areolar cell lines from three normal men and 9 areolar cell lines from nine normal women. There was no difference in the mean androgen receptor content (approximately 10 000 sites/cell) or binding affinity (approximately 1 nM) between the patients' fibroblasts and those of the normal subjects. Similarly, there were no differences in these parameters when pubic skin fibroblast androgen receptors were used for the comparison. We conclude that, although PM may yet be due to a defect in breast tissue sensitivity to androgen, the disorder cannot be explained by abnormalities in fibroblast androgen receptor number or affinity.
UNLABELLED: We evaluated the interaction of [3H]1,25(OH)2D3 with skin fibroblasts cultured from normal subjects or from affected members of six kindreds with rickets and resistance to 1-alpha, 25(OH)2D [1,25(OH)2D]. We analyzed two aspects of the radioligand interaction; nuclear uptake with dispersed, intact cells at 37 degrees C and binding at 0 degrees C with soluble extract ("cytosol") prepared from cells disrupted in buffer containing 300 mM KCl and 10 mM sodium molybdate. With normal fibroblasts the affinity and capacity of nuclear uptake of [3H]1,25(OH)2D3 were 0.5 nM and 10,300 sites per cell, respectively; for binding with cytosol these were 0.13 nM and 8,900 sites per cell, respectively. The following four patterns of interaction with [3H]1,25(OH)2D3 were observed with cells cultured from affected patients: (a) two kindreds; cytosol binding and whole-cell nuclear uptake both unmeasurable; (b) one kindred, decreased capacity and normal affinity both for binding in cytosol and for nuclear uptake in whole cells; (c) two kindreds, normal or nearly normal capacity and affinity of binding in cytosol but unmeasurable whole-cell nuclear uptake; and (d) one kindred, normal capacity and affinity of both cytosol binding and whole-cell nuclear uptake. In all cases where the radioligand bound with high affinity in nucleus or cytosol, the nucleus- or cytosol-associated radioligand exhibited normal sedimentation velocity on sucrose density gradients. When two kindreds exhibited similar patterns (i.e. pattern a or c) with the analyses of cultured fibroblasts, clinical features in affected members suggested that the underlying genetic defects were not identical. IN CONCLUSION: (a) Fibroblasts cultured from human skin manifest nuclear uptake and cytosol binding of [3H]1,25(OH)2D3 that is an expression of the genes determining these processes in target tissues. (b) Based upon data from clinical evaluations and from analyses of cultured fibroblasts, severe resistance to 1,25(OH)2D resulted from five or six distinct genetic mutations in six kindreds.
The androgen resistance syndromes are generally felt to be due to quantitative or qualitative abnormalities of the androgen receptor. Some patients with testicular feminization have no demonstrable fibroblast cytosol androgen binding, whereas others have androgen binding in cultured fibrobalsts that is thermolabile or fails to be stabilized by sodium molybdate. I describe here familial incomplete testicular feminization associated with reduced nuclear androgen retention. Fibroblasts, cultured from pubic skin biopsies of two phenotypic female 46XY siblings, were assayed for whole cell and nuclear uptake of [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone in dispersed, intact cells. Whole cell binding of [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone at 22 degrees C in the patients' fibroblasts was in the normal range. However, no high affinity, saturable binding of [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone was demonstrable in crude nuclear pellets prepared from the patients' fibroblasts incubated at 37 degrees C with the hormone. Incubating the patients' cells with [(3)H]methyltrienolone or examining the nuclear uptake of [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone in these cells at 22 degrees C did not alter these findings. Although cytosol from the patients' cells revealed a quantitatively diminished 8S peak for [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone after centrifugation on sodium molybdate-containing sucrose gradients, there was no peak of (3)H in the 4S region from 0.3 M KCl nuclear extracts of the patients' cells after they had been incubated with [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone at 37 degrees C. Although whole cell binding studies at 37 degrees C showed minimally diminished androgen binding in the patients' cells compared with binding at 22 degrees C, Griffin (1979. J. Clin. Invest.64: 1624-1631.) has demonstrated thermolability of the androgen receptors in fibroblasts also cultured from these patients. The observations with intact cells coupled with the diminished cytosol 8S peak of [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone on sucrose gradients indicate that these patients have cytosol androgen receptors that are qualitatively abnormal physicochemically, the physiologic consequence of which is failure of nuclear androgen localization. Thus, although the underlying defect in the pathogenesis of the androgen resistance in these patients appears to reside in the androgen receptor, the crucial biologic manifestation of the molecular lesion is impaired nuclear androgen retention. These experiments, therefore, suggest that assessment of nuclear [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone uptake is an effective indicator of the functional integrity of the androgen receptor system in patients with various forms of androgen insensitivity and provides additional insights to those obtained by thermolability or cytosol sucrose gradient studies.
Deficient activity of the guanine nucleotide regulatory protein (G unit), an integral component of the membrane-bound adenylate cyclase complex, has been implicated as the biochemical lesion in many patients with pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) type I. In addition to renal resistance to parathyroid hormone in this disorder, there is decreased responsiveness of diverse tissues to hormones that act via 3',5'-cyclic AMP (cAMP). To assess whether a deficiency of G units could account for impaired adenylate cyclase activity, we studied cAMP production in intact cultured fibroblasts and fibroblast plasma membranes from five patients with PHP in response to several activators of adenylate cyclase. The number of G units in PHP fibroblast membranes, measured by cholera toxin-dependent [(32)P]ADP ribosylation of G-unit peptides, as well as the G-unit activity, determined by the ability of detergent extracts to reconstitute adenylate cyclase activity in G-unit-deficient S49 CYC(-) membranes, were found to be markedly reduced compared with control membranes (43 and 40%, respectively), The activation of fibroblast membrane adenylate cyclase by effectors that act directly through the G unit (guanosine triphosphate, guanosine 5'-0-[3-thiotriphosphate] [GTP-gamma-S], NaF) was significantly greater in control membranes than in membranes from patients with PHP. Moreover, we found that hormone (prostaglandin E(1)) stimulated adenylate cyclase activity was also greater in control membranes than in PHP membranes. Neither the apparent affinity of membrane adenylate cyclase for GTP-gamma-S (apparent K(m) =5 X 10(-8) M) nor the rate of enzyme activation by GTP-gamma-S was significantly different in fibroblast membranes from control subjects and patients with PHP. In contrast to the notable differences in hormone and G-unit-activated adenylate cyclase shown in fibroblast membranes from PHP patients and control subjects, the intrinsic catalytic activity of membranes, as determined by forskolin-stimulated adenylate cyclase, was not significantly different in the two groups. Intact fibroblasts derived from patients with PHP accumulated significantly (P 0.001) less cAMP (46+/-21 pmol cAMP/mcg DNA, n = 5) than cells from normal individuals (170+/-51 pmol cAMP/mcg DNA, n = 11) when stimulated with PGE(1). PGE(1)-stimulated accumulation of cAMP by intact fibroblast monolayers correlated closely with PGE(1) plus GTP-activated membrane adenylate cyclase activity in both patients and controls (r = 0.97, P < 0.001). Our data show that, in patients with PHP, (a) fibroblast membranes show a decreased complement of G units, (b) membrane catalytic activity is normal, but adenylate cyclase activity is reduced when stimulated by hormone or by effectors which activate the G unit, (c) the ability of cells to accumulate cAMP in response to hormone stimulation is reduced, and (d) reduced membrane adenylate cyclase activity correlates well with impaired cellular cAMP synthesis. These results, taken together, indicate that a deficiency of G-unit activity can impair synthesis of cAMP by both intact and broken cells, and may explain the resistance of multiple tissues to hormones that act via cAMP observed in PHP.
UNLABELLED: Two unrelated patients, aged 22 months and 31 months, with alopecia and rickets resistant to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)2D] (vitamin D-dependency type II) presented with similar biochemical and radiologic features. They were treated with large doses of vitamin D3 derivatives [25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-(OH)D3), 1,25-(OH)2D3, and 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3] for 28 months and 6 yr, respectively. In both patients, serum 1,25-(OH)2D levels remained high (approximately 10- to 100-fold normal) during the different therapeutic regimens. Circulating 1,25-(OH)2D and 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels at various stages of the disease suggested in these children disturbances in the regulation of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) 1 alpha- and 24-hydroxylase systems. In one child, all therapeutic trials were unsuccessful. Studies of her cultured skin fibroblasts showed low capacity (10% normal) for saturable (presumably receptor mediated) nuclear uptake of tritiated 1,25-(OH)2D3; the uptake process of nucleus associated 1,25-(OH)2D3 was normal in apparent affinity for 1,25-(OH)2D3 and in sedimentation velocity of nucleus-associated hormone. In the second child, correction of biochemical abnormalities, healing of rickets, and catch-up growth were obtained during similar therapeutic trials up to the age of 6 yr when a relapse occurred. This relapse has persisted for 2 yr in spite of similar or higher circulating concentrations of 25-(OH)D and 1,25-(OH)2D than those obtained previously when she was responsive to therapy. In her cultured skin fibroblasts, saturable high affinity nuclear uptake of 1,25(OH)2D was unmeasurable. IN CONCLUSION: 1) distinct patterns of clinical response can occur in patients with the syndrome of vitamin D-dependency type II, and can be associated with differing abnormalities in interaction of 1,25-(OH)2D3 with cultured skin fibroblasts; 2) aggravation of the resistance to 1,25-(OH)2D3 may occur during long term therapy in some patients.
UNLABELLED: The syndrome of rickets, alopecia, hypocalcemia, and high circulating levels of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-(OH)2D) apparently is caused by resistance of target tissues to 1,25-(OH)2D. To evaluate this, we cultured cells from explants of long bone of one patient with this syndrome and from a control without any preexisting disorder of mineral metabolism. The cultured cells showed morphological features of fibroblasts but contained alkaline phosphatase activity without detectable acid phosphatase activity, indicating an osteoblastic origin for some or all of the cultured cells. Receptors for 1,25-(OH)2D were assessed by three methods: high affinity uptake of hormone in nuclei of dispersed cells, high affinity binding in hypertonic extracts (herein termed cytosol) from cells, and sedimentation velocity of bound [3H]1,25-(OH)2D3 in extracts of cell nuclei. With cells cultured from bone of the normal control, receptors for 1,25-(OH)2D exhibited properties indistinguishable from those found with cultured skin fibroblasts. With cells cultured from bone of the patient with resistance to 1,25-(OH)2D, high affinity uptake of 1,25-(OH)2D into nuclei was unmeasurable, but high affinity binding of hormone with cytosol was normal; these abnormal findings also were indistinguishable from abnormal findings obtained with fibroblasts cultured from skin of that patient. IN CONCLUSION: 1) Cells cultured from explants of human bone showed morphological features of fibroblasts but retained a marker enzyme characteristic of osteoblasts. Significant admixture of osteoblast-like cells with fibroblasts was possible. 2) Cells cultured from bone of a patient with familial resistance to 1,25-(OH)2D exhibit a defect in vitamin D metabolism, indistinguishable from the defect observed with cells cultured from skin of the same patient.
An increasing number of disorders that may cause hyperthyroxinemia without thyrotoxicosis have been recognized in recent years. These include acquired and inherited abnormalities of serum thyroid-hormone-binding proteins, peripheral resistance to thyroid hormones, acute nonthyroidal illness, acute psychiatric illness, and some drug-induced conditions associated with nonthyrotoxic elevations of serum thyroxine. In addition to the laboratory finding of elevated serum thyroxine levels, many of these syndromes are also accompanied by abnormalities in triiodothyronine and free thyroid hormone levels, as well as unresponsiveness of thyroid-stimulating hormone to thyrotropin-releasing hormone, all of which further erroneously indicate a diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis. An awareness of these syndromes and alterations in the results of thyroid function tests that accompany them is important to prevent a misdiagnosis of hyperthyroidism and inappropriate therapy.
The concentrations of total and protein-unbound plasma cortisol of New World monkeys are higher than those of Old World primates and prosimians. The urinary free-cortisol excretion also is increased markedly. However, there is no physiologic evidence of increased cortisol effect. These findings suggest end-organ resistance to glucocorticoids. This was confirmed by showing that the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis is resistant to suppression by dexamethasone. To study this phenomenon, glucocorticoid receptors were examined in circulating mononuclear leukocytes and cultured skin fibroblasts from both New and Old World species. The receptor content is the same in all species, but the New World monkeys have a markedly decreased binding affinity for dexamethasone. Thus, the resistance of these species to the action of cortisol is due to the decreased binding affinity of the glucocorticoid receptor. This presumed mutation must have occurred after the bifurcation of Old and New World primates (approximately 60 x 10(6) yr ago) and before the diversion of the New World primates from each other (approximately 15 x 10(6) yr ago).
We have studied a man suspected of having primary cortisol resistance on the basis of high 24-h mean plasma cortisol levels (27.4 micrograms/dl) and no stigmata of Cushing's syndrome. His son had slightly elevated 24-h mean plasma cortisol levels (9.9 micrograms/dl; normal 7.52 micrograms/dl). Both had high plasma protein unbound cortisol and increased urinary free cortisol. Plasma ACTH concentration was high, and both were resistant to adrenal suppression by dexamethasone. The father appeared to have mineralocorticoid excess resulting in hypertension, hypokalemia, and metabolic alkalosis. This was found to be due to markedly elevated plasma levels of deoxycorticosterone and corticosterone. The son, who was normotensive, had mildly increased plasma corticosterone and normal deoxycorticosterone levels. To study the apparent end-organ resistance to cortisol, we examined the glucocorticoid receptor in the white cells and fibroblasts of these patients. In both tissues, using both whole cell and cytosol assays, the glucocorticoid receptor was found to have reduced affinity for dexamethasone. In the cytoxol assays, a reduced receptor number was found as well. We conclude that cortisol resistance is a rare familial syndrome owing to an abnormal glucocorticoid receptor with a decreased affinity for cortisol.
The antiandrogenic properties of delta 1-testolactone (17 alpha-oxa-D-homo-1,4-androstane-3,17-dione; Teslac) were investigated in vivo and in vitro. Teslac (75 mg/day for 7 days) inhibited the rise in ventral prostate weight induced by testosterone (T) (P less than 0.001), dihydrotestosterone (DHT) (P less than 0.05), and a combination of T plus 17 beta-estradiol (E2) (P less than 0.01) in immature castrate rats. Similar effects were seen on the seminal vesicles after T and T plus E2 (P less than 0.001). Teslac also decreased prostate and seminal vesicle weights in intact immature rats. The effects of Teslac were dose and time dependent. Teslac did not change the concentration of serum T or DHT. However, Teslac inhibited DHT binding to the androgen receptor (Ki = 2.5 +/- 0.8 X 10(-7) M) in cytosol of the rat prostate. Teslac also inhibited DHT binding to the androgen receptor in cultured human prepuce fibroblasts and cultured rat mammary tumor cells (Ki = 1.9 +/- 0.3 X 10(-5) M). The results indicate that Teslac, in addition to its antiaromatase activity, is an antiandrogen by virtue of its interaction with the androgen receptor.
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A patient with a left lower lung mass had muscle weakness, generalized hyperpigmentation, metabolic alkalosis, and profound hypokalemia. His elevated serum cortisol, corticosterone, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) concentrations were not suppressed after midnight dexamethasone administration. Light and electron microscopic sections of the lung mass fitted the pathological criteria for adenocarcinoma. Immunocytochemical analysis of the tumor demonstrated specific staining with antibody to beta-endorphin, suggesting that the tumor cells made the common precursor molecule of ACTH, beta-lipotropin, and endorphin. This is, to the best of our knowledge, only the second case report of pulmonary adenocarcinoma associated with the syndrome of ectopic ACTH.
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Because of the relative inaccessibility of known calciferol target tissues (i.e., intestine and bone), we examined fibroblasts derived from normal human skin and grown in tissue culture as a means of evaluating the interaction of 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [1,25(OH)2D3] and its effector system. When dispersed, intact cells were used, nuclear uptake of 1,25-dihydroxy[23,24(n)3-H]cholecalciferol [1,25(OH)2[3H]D3) was temperature-dependent, optimal at 45 min at 37 degrees C, and saturable. In competition experiments with other calciferols, the 1,25(OH)2[3H]D3 uptake showed specificity indistinguishable from that reported for 1,25(OH)2D3 receptors from calciferol target tissues. Analysis of 1,25(OH)2[3H]D3 nuclear uptake in fibroblast strains from six normal adults (four male, two female) yielded an average binding capacity (R0) of 10,600 +/- 2,000 (SEM) nuclear sites per cell and an apparent dissociation contant (Kd) of 0.50 +/- 0.07 (SEM) x 10(-9) M. Donor sex, donor age, or anatomic site of origin of the cell line did not affect the characteristics of uptake. Similar nuclear uptake was demonstrable with cultured MCF-7 cells (derived from human breast cancer) when assayed in the same fashion. When hypertonic extracts of nuclei obtained from skin fibroblasts incubated with 1,25(OH)2[3H]D3 were subjected to centrifugation on sucrose gradients, a single peak of radioactivity sedimented at approximately 3 S; when excess 1,25(OH)2D3 was coincubated during the cellular uptake phase, this 3S peak was not observed. Molybdate was an essential buffer component for receptor stabilization during cell fractionation and sedimentation analysis. In summary, by using fibroblasts cultured from normal human skin, we have identified a process of nuclear uptake of 1,25(OH)2[3H]D3 with the affinity, saturability, and specificity characteristics of a steroid hormone--receptor interaction. This method should be useful in studying 1,25(OH)2D3 recept physiology in cells from normal persons as well as in cells from patients who have disorders in the responsiveness of calciferol target tissues.
Saturable binding of androgens, glucocorticoids, and triiodothyronine was found in the 64-24 hormone-responsive rat mammary carcinoma cell line. Androgen receptors had a dissociation content (Kd) for methyltrienolone of 3.4 X 10(-10) M and a binding capacity of approximately 10,000 sites/cell in whole cells. 5 alpha-[3H]dihydrotestosterone (DHT) was specifically taken up into approximately 2,150 nuclear sites with an affinity of 8.3 X 10(-10) M when nuclei were isolated from whole cells incubated with [3H]DHT. Sucrose gradient centrifugation of cytosol prepared from these cells revealed a displaceable [3H]DHT-binding component which migrated at 8S. Sedimentation analysis with high salt gradients of nuclear extracts from cells incubated with [3H]DHT revealed a peak of radioactivity in the 4S region which was abolished by coincubation of the cells with excess nonradioactive methyltrienolone. Receptors for [3H]dexamethasone were more abundant (approximately 50,000 sites/cell) in whole cells and had a Kd of 7.5 X 10(-9) M, but the number of nuclear binding sites was similar to that for androgens. Specificity studies using unlabeled steroids showed that each of the two classes of steroid receptors had greater affinities for their appropriate hormones. High affinity receptors for estrogens and progestins were not detectable in these cells. Triiodothyronine receptors were demonstrable but at a very low binding capacity (1,100 sites/cell). The Kd of these receptors was 0.6 X 10(-10) M. Cytogenetic studies revealed 44 chromosomes/mitosis with several unique markers. These receptor and karyotypic features suggest that the 64-24 cells may be useful in studying androgen action on breast cancer independently of estrogen or progestin influence, as well as the effects of thyroid hormone and glucocorticoids on breast cancer cells.
Central nervous system involvement outside the hypothalamus or pituitary in multifocal eosinophilic granuloma (MEG) is unusual. Eleven patients with MEG have been examined with cranial computerized axial tomograms (CT). Four patients with moderate to severe cerebellar dysfunction, 3 of whom had no detectable lesions by other neuroradiological techniques, were found to have cerebellar abnormalities. All of the remaining 7 patients with normal neurological examinations had normal CT scans. Computerized axial tomography is a useful technique in the evaluation of patients with MEG and neurological impairment.
A method is described for the determination of binding capacity (Ro) and dissociation constant (Kd) of androgen receptors in dispersed, whole, cultured human skin fibroblasts. The cells obtained from punch biopsies or operative specimens of skin, are grown to confluence in monolayers, harvested, washed, and dispersed in medium. Binding is assessed by incubating the cells with [3H]dihydrotestosterone (DHT) at 22 degrees C for one hour followed by washing, centrifugation and counting. Non-specific binding is determined by adding radioinert methyltrienolone (R1881). Scatchard plots are constructed using 6 concentration points; binding is expressed as sites/cell. The method is precise (Ro = 12,105 +/- 4305 (S.D.) sites/cell; Kd = 1.0 +/- 0.7 (S.D.) x 10(-9)M, n = 14 for one prepuce cell line) and independent of cell passage number. Binding is linear with respect to cell number and shows those characteristics commonly attributed to androgen receptors: high affinity, low binding capacity, saturable nuclear binding, androgen specificity, and an 8S peak in fibroblast cytosol using sucrose density gradients. Cell lines shown by other published methods to lack androgen receptors had no detectable DHT binding with this method. This assay technique has the advantages of simplicity, rapidity, and precision.