Thyroid Hormone Receptor Agonistic and Antagonistic Activity of Newly Synthesized Dihydroxylated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers: An In Vitro and In Silico Coactivator Recruitment Study

Mengtao Zhang, Jianghong Shi*, Bing Li, Hui Ge, Huanyu Tao, Jiawei Zhang, Xiaoyan Li, Zongwei Cai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Abstract

Dihydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (DiOH-PBDEs) could be the metabolites of PBDEs of some organisms or the natural products of certain marine bacteria and algae. OH-PBDEs may demonstrate binding affinity to thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) and can disrupt the functioning of the systems modulated by TRs. However, the thyroid hormone disruption mechanism of diOH-PBDEs remains elusive due to the absence of diOH-PBDEs standards. This investigation explores the potential disruptive effects of OH/diOH-PBDEs on thyroid hormones via competitive binding and coactivator recruitment with TRα and TRβ. At levels of 5000 nM and 25,000 nM, 6-OH-BDE-47 demonstrated significant recruitment of steroid receptor coactivator (SRC), whereas none of the diOH-PBDEs exhibited SRC recruitment within the range of 0.32–25,000 nM. AutoDock CrankPep (ADCP) simulations suggest that the conformation of SRC and TR–ligand complexes, particularly their interaction with Helix 12, rather than binding affinity, plays a pivotal role in ligand agonistic activity. 6,6′-diOH-BDE-47 displayed antagonistic activity towards both TRα and TRβ, while the antagonism of 3,5-diOH-BDE-100 for TRα and TRβ was concentration-dependent. 3,5-diOH-BDE-17 and 3,5-diOH-BDE-51 exhibited no discernible agonistic or antagonistic activities. Molecular docking analysis revealed that the binding energy of 3,3′,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3) surpassed that of OH/diOH-PBDEs. 3,5-diOH-BDE-100 exhibited the highest binding energy, whereas 6,6′-diOH-BDE-47 displayed the lowest. These findings suggest that the structural determinants influencing the agonistic and antagonistic activities of halogen phenols may be more intricate than previously proposed, involving factors beyond high-brominated PBDEs or hydroxyl group and bromine substitutions. It is likely that the agonistic or antagonistic propensities of OH/diOH-PBDEs are instigated by protein conformational changes rather than considerations of binding energy.
Original languageEnglish
Article number281
Number of pages15
JournalToxics
Volume12
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Toxicology
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
  • Chemical Health and Safety

User-Defined Keywords

  • agonistic or antagonistic activities
  • coactivator recruitment assay
  • DiOH-PBDEs
  • thyroid hormone receptors

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Thyroid Hormone Receptor Agonistic and Antagonistic Activity of Newly Synthesized Dihydroxylated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers: An In Vitro and In Silico Coactivator Recruitment Study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this