Transcriptional signalling by vitamin A

描述(申请人提供)：目前认为维生素A，视黄醇是一种生物惰性物质，其众多生物学功能是由活性代谢物发挥的：视觉生色团11-顺式视黄醛和维甲酸，它们通过激活特定的核激素受体来调节基因表达。令人惊讶的是，我们的初步数据表明视黄醇本身就是一种转录调节因子。视黄醇在血液中循环，与血清视黄醇结合蛋白(RBP)结合，但在进入靶细胞之前，它必须与蛋白质解离。最近发现，一种称为STRA6的完整质膜蛋白与RBP结合，并介导细胞对视黄醇的摄取。然而，我们的初步结果表明，除了作为维生素A转运体的功能外，STRA6是一种配体激活的细胞表面受体，它激活JAK/STAT通路以响应结合的视黄醇-RBP。具体地说，数据表明，STRA6与视黄醇结合的RBP结合导致STAT的磷酸化和激活，进而诱导特定STAT靶基因的转录。这里提出的研究将解决这样的假设，即视黄醇可以通过激活RBP/STRA6/STAT通路介导的信号通路来调节基因转录。我们进一步建议阐明该通路在调节脂质稳态和胰岛素反应以及控制细胞生长和存活中的作用。这些研究的结果可能为糖尿病和癌症的治疗方法指明新的靶点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is currently believed that vitamin A, retinol, is biologically inert and that its myriad of biological functions are exerted by active metabolites: the visual chromophore 11-cis-retinaldehyde, and retinoic acids, which regulate gene expression by activating specific nuclear hormone receptors. Surprisingly, our preliminary data suggest that retinol is a transcriptional regulator in its own right. Retinol circulates in blood bound to serum retinol- binding protein (RBP) but it must dissociate from the protein prior to entering target cells. It was recently shown that an integral plasma membrane protein termed STRA6 binds RBP and mediates the uptake of retinol into cells. Our preliminary results demonstrate however that, in addition to its function as a vitamin A transporter, STRA6 is a ligand-activated cell surface receptor which activates a JAK/STAT pathway in response to binding retinol-RBP. Specifically, the data indicate that, association of STRA6 with retinol-bound RBP results in phosphorylation and activation of STATs, which, in turn, induce the transcription of specific STAT target genes. Studies proposed here will address the hypothesis that retinol can regulate gene transcription by activating a signalling pathway mediated by an RBP/STRA6/STAT pathway. We further propose to elucidate its involvement of this pathway in regulation of lipid homeostasis and insulin responses and in control of cell growth and survival. The results of these studies may point at novel targets for therapeutic approaches in treatment of diabetes and cancer.