J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 265, Issue 13, 7526-7531, May, 1990
A glucocorticoid-resistant rat hepatoma cell variant contains functional glucocorticoid receptor
Y Dong, W Cairns, S Okret and JA Gustafsson
Department of Medical Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden.
The mechanism of glucocorticoid resistance was studied in a rat hepatoma
cell variant (6.10.2) which contains low levels of glucocorticoid receptor.
These cells seem to have lost glucocorticoid- induced transcriptional
responses as measured by the induction of expression of stably integrated
mouse mammary tumor virus gene and the endogenous tyrosine aminotransferase
gene, as well as the transcriptional suppression of glucocorticoid receptor
gene expression. However, characterization of the glucocorticoid resistance
in 6.10.2 cells revealed that the receptor is indistinguishable from the
wild- type receptor with respect to hormone binding and affinity for both
nonspecific and specific DNA sequences. The levels of the receptor mRNA and
the total immunoreactive protein found in 6.10.2 cells were about 20% of
those found in wild-type cells. Further analysis of 6.10.2 cells
demonstrated that the receptor was indeed biologically functional. First,
treatment of 6.10.2 cells with 8-bromo-cAMP elevated the endogenous
glucocorticoid receptor levels 2-fold and restored responsiveness to
glucocorticoids. Second, pretreatment of the cells with cycloheximide also
led to acquisition of cellular responsiveness to glucocorticoids. We
propose that there exists a "threshold" level of glucocorticoid receptor
which is required for responsiveness and that under normal culture
conditions, the level of glucocorticoid receptor in 6.10.2 cells is below
this threshold. However, glucocorticoid responsiveness can be restored by
raising the glucocorticoid receptor level above the threshold with
8-bromo-cAMP or, alternatively, by removing the threshold barrier with
cycloheximide.