Skip Navigation
National Institute of Environmental Health SciencesNational Institutes of Health
Increase text size Decrease text size Print this page

Specific Study

Word (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/portfolio/sc/detail_doc.cfm?appl_id=7404995&ext=.doc)  Download Microsoft Word Viewer | Excel (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/portfolio/sc/detail_xls.cfm?appl_id=7404995&ext=.xls)  Download Microsoft Excel Viewer | PDF (http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/portfolio/sc/detail_doc.cfm?appl_id=7404995&pdf=1&ext=.pdf)  Download Adobe Reader

Dimensions in Endocrine Disruption: Altering Receptor Coregulator Interactions

Principal Investigator
Gunther, Jillian
Institute Receiving Award
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Location
Champaign, IL
Grant Number
F30ES016484
Funding Organization
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Award Funding Period
30 Sep 2007 to 29 Sep 2013
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project aims to identify possible environmental endocrine disrupters working by an unusual mechanism that operates after the interaction of ligands with nuclear hormone receptors, namely, by the direct inhibition or potentiation of the nuclear hormone receptor/coactivator interaction itself. This goal will be accomplished by developing time-resolved fluorescence assays that probe in a robust and reliable manner the interaction of the nuclear receptors with coactivators. These assays are adaptable to high-throughput screening, and will be used at the Emory University Molecular Libraries Screening Center, an NIH-funded Roadmap Research Resource to which we have obtained access, to identify possible coactivator binding inhibitors (CBIs) or coactivator binding potentiators (CBPs) that might be present in the environment. After compounds have been identified as possible disrupters or potentiators of endocrine function, they will be subject to secondary assays to confirm that they indeed act through these unusual CBI or CBP mechanisms. These assays will also use fluorescence resonance energy transfer methodology, but with carefully selected alterations in the concentrations of integral components to elucidate mechanism. Finally, cell-based assays such as mammalian-2-hybrid, cotransfection reporter gene assays, or monitoring of hormone-responsive gene products will more definitively demonstrate the possible biological or physiological effects arising from exposure to these compounds. This project should help pinpoint a novel endocrine disruption site within the nuclear receptor signaling pathway and identify the compounds that work at this level. It should also help identify possible CBIs or CBPs present in the environment or in commonly used products that could be causing alterations in the pattern of genome transcription by an unusual mechanism, due to the interruption or the potentiation of nuclear receptor-regulated signal transduction that operates at a post ligand-receptor interaction level. Ultimately, this project should help in identifying harmful compounds present within our environment and, hopefully, guide measures to minimize exposure of the public to these substances. Endocrine disrupters are exogenous compounds that interfere with the endocrine system, altering hormone action and the messages it sends throughout the body. This project aims to identify possible endocrine disrupters that act by an unusual mechanism. Large numbers of compounds will be screened to determine structural features of those that inhibit or potentiated endocrine action by this unusual process. With this information, steps could be taken to minimize human exposure to these novel types of endocrine disrupters.
Crisp Terms/Key Words: endocrine disrupting compound, small molecule, predoctoral investigator, environmental exposure, nuclear receptor, high throughput technology, molecular biology information system, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, technology /technique development, estrogen receptor, receptor binding, intermolecular interaction, time resolved data
Science Code(s)/Area of Science(s)
Primary: 87 - Training
Secondary: 50 - Endocrine (including Breast Cancer)
Program Administrator
MICHAEL C HUMBLE (humble@niehs.nih.gov)
USA.gov Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health
This page URL: http://tools.niehs.nih.gov/portfolio/sc/detail.cfm
NIEHS website: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/
Email the Web Manager at webmanager@niehs.nih.gov
Last Reviewed: 21 August 2007