DDT and its metabolites (DDTs) can induce estrogenic
effects. Previous
mechanistic investigations mainly concentrated on activating the genomic
transcription of estrogen receptor (ER) pathways. Here, we identified
whether estrogen-related receptor γ (ERRγ), an orphan
nuclear receptor, is a potential target of DDTs by receptor binding,
transcriptional activity, and receptor-mediated pathway assays. Fluorescence
polarization-based binding assays showed that all eight DDTs bound
to ERRγ directly, with K
d values
ranging from 0.73–168.82 μM. Among them, 2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl)ethanol
(4,4′-DDOH) exhibited the highest binding affinity, which was
2.5-fold stronger than GSK4716, a well-known ERRγ agonist. Eight
DDTs exhibited agonistic activity toward the ERRγ pathway, with
4,4′-DDOH showing the strongest potency. In silico studies
revealed that DDTs tended to bind with ERRγ in the agonistic
conformation. Using a SKBR3 breast cancer cell model, we further found
that nanomolar or micromolar levels of DDTs significantly activated
the ERRγ pathway in cells and induced cell proliferation through
the ERRγ-modulated cell cycle. These results indicated that
the binding and activation of DDTs to ERRγ might serve as molecular
initiating events for subsequent ERRγ-mediated signaling pathways
and adverse outcomes. Overall, our results demonstrated that ERRγ
might be a crucial pathway involved in the estrogenic disruption effects
of DDTs.
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