Biological Functions of Protein Disulfide Isomerase as a Target of Phenolic Endocrine-disrupting Chemicals

Abstract

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are widespread in the environment and suspected of interfering with endocrine homeostasis. Bisphenol A (BPA), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane, an EDC, has been widely used throughout the world as an industrial chemical. BPA is a developmental, neural, and reproductive toxicant that mimics estrogen and can interfere with growth and body function. In a recent study, a BPA-binding protein was isolated from P2 fractions of rat brain, and identified as protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). PDI has been studied extensively as a key enzyme involved in the formation of the correct pattern of disulfide bonds in proteins. PDI is also known to be a membrane-associated 3,3 ,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T 3 )-binding protein. BPA inhibits the binding of T 3 to PDI and isomerase activity of PDI. PDI has four consecutive domains, a, b, b', and a', each with a thioredoxin fold. The domains a and a' have a catalytically active Cys-Gly-His-Cys motif, while b and b' have substrate-binding sites. To address the chemical structural requirements of BPA for the inhibitory effect of PDI, several BPA analogs were tested, suggesting that the phenolic structure is important for BPA to affect PDI functions. To investigate the biological effects of BPA on PDI functions, GH3 cells were used. GH3 is a rat pituitary tumor cell line and releases growth hormone (GH) via the T 3 receptor. Over-expression of PDI suppresses the T 3 -induced release of GH and when the cells were treated with BPA together with T 3 , the amount of GH released was much increased. Thus, PDI plays an important role in the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis. In this review, the possible involvement and biological significance especially in the central nervous system, of PDI as a target of phenolic environmental chemicals, are discussed.