Also binding sex steroids, the SHBG homodimer by itself serves as a ligand getting a particular, high affinity receptor (Roentgen
Into the people, each SHBG monomer subunit consists of a good 373 amino acid polypeptide that have three oligosaccharide top chains as well as 2 disulfide ties (2). Each SHBG subunit consists of an effective steroid joining web site ready binding DHT, testosterone, otherwise estradiol, such that new mature SHBG homodimer enjoys one or two collection of steroid binding sites (29). More over, for each monomer contains a couple ?-sheets which are important in the newest dimerization of the adult SHBG glycoprotein. Specifically, seven hydrogen bonds try molded along side user interface of your own ?-sheets in a fashion that two continuous fourteen-stuck ?-sheets are designed on the mature homodimer (29;30).
Like most other steroid hormone-binding glycoproteins such as cortisol-joining globulin otherwise thyroxine-joining globulin, adult SHBG consists of oligosaccharide top stores, while the structural team of your own carbohydrate moieties are specific to help you for each and every binding glycoprotein (31). Specifically, each subunit of SHBG homodimer try described as three oligosaccharide moieties, an enthusiastic O-linked glycosylation site in the Thr7, and you will Letter-linked sites during the Asn 351 and Asn 367 (32–34). Whilst the oligosaccharide front-stores with the SHBG don’t appear to be critical for the fresh glycoprotein’s steroid-binding passion (34), much like the biologic means present in other glycoproteins, SHBG glycosylation can be important in the latest glycoprotein’s communication that have specific cell-surface receptors (35).
SHBG) present on the plasma membranes of target cells (8;10;11;36;37). Only steroid-free SHBG appears to bind to RSHBG; however, once SHBG is bound to the receptor, sex steroids can then activate the anchored SHBG-RSHBG complex (8). Moreover, adding additional complexity to the system, not all steroids that bind to the SHBG-RSHBG complex function as agonists; some are antagonists (8). Moreover, some steroids such as DHT may function as either an agonist or antagonist for the system, depending on the specific target cell type (8;38). Although the full downstream effects of SHBG-RSHBG complex activation remain unclear, complex activation appears to affect target cell growth in addition to modulating the transcriptional activity of classic intracellular steroid hormone receptors (8).
SHBG may also actively participate in the uptake of sex steroids by target tissues through interactions with megalin, an endocytic receptor distinct from RSHBG (9). Although the uptake of SHBG-bound sex hormones via the megalin-mediated pathway is controversial (39), such findings support an expanded role of SHBG in sex steroids physiology.
SHBG Gene Structure and you can Splice Variants
The SHBG gene, located on the chromosome 17p12>p13, consists of eight exons separated by seven small introns (2;40;41). Exon 1 encodes for the nacent protein’s 29 amino acid secretion signal polypeptide (2), while the remaining exons [2–8] encode two contiguous laminin G–like (LG) domains (41). The amino-terminal LG domain encoded by exons 2–4 contains the steroid-binding site, the dimer interface, and several cation-binding sites (42). A ten amino acid sequence (residues 48–57) within exon 3 appears to correspond to the RSHBG-binding domain (43).
Although hepatocytes are the primary source of plasma SHBG (44), extrahepatic tissues, including testis, prostate, ovary, endometrium, breast, placenta and hypothalamus also express SHBG mRNA in humans (45–51). In fact, recent evidence suggests that the transcriptional control of SHBG gene expression is extremely complex and is regulated by at least three distinct promoters (PL, PT, and PN) which are expressed differentially in various human tissues (52).
Activation of the downstream promoter (PL), results in the production of the most common SHBG mRNA transcript [exon1L-8] (52). The exon IL-8 transcript is predominantly expressed in hepatocytes and encodes for all eight exons present in the SHBG gene. PL activation in the testis results in an identical eight-exon mRNA; however, distinct post-translational processing of the testicular transcript results in the production of androgen binding protein (ABP) instead of mature SHBG (45;53). In addition to the liver and testis, the 1L-8 mRNA transcript is also expressed in the human prostate, breast and regions of the brain (52). In the testis, activation of a second SHBG promoter (PT), located 1.9 kb upstream of PL, produces a second major mRNA transcript (45;52). In addition to possessing an unique 5? end amino acid sequence (exon 1T), the second testicular transcript also lacks exon 7(45;52). Recently, Nakhla and colleagues described a third SHBG gene promoter (PN), located within intron 1 of the adjacent FXR2 gene (52). Similar to PL and PT transcripts, PN transcripts possess a distinct first exon (1N). Differential activation of the three promoters triggers alternative splicing of SHBG exons which, in turn, may result in the expression of at least 19 unique SHBG transcripts (52). Furthermore, the pattern of SHBG transcript expression differs in normal tissues with PL-, PT-, and PN— derived transcripts being most abundantly expressed in the liver, testis, and prostate, respectively (52). Interestingly, alternative splicing of SHBG is more pronounced in certain cancer cell lines compared with normal tissues (52) ( Figure 1 ). Although Nakhla and colleagues hypothesize that only certain PL-derived transcripts produce stable SHBG isoforms, the potential biologic significance of alternatively spliced SHBG gene transcripts remains unclear (52).