Human androgen receptor mutation disrupts ternary interactions between ligand, receptor domains, and the coactivator...

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-dependent X-linked nuclear transcription factor regulating male sexual development and spermatogenesis. The receptor is activated when androgen binds to the C-terminal ligand-binding domain (LBD), triggering a cascade of molecular events, including interactions between the LBD and the N-terminal transactivation domain (TAD), and the recruitment of transcriptional coactivators. A nonconservative asparagine to lysine substitution in AR residue 727 was encountered in a phenotypically normal man with subfertility and depressed spermatogenesis. This N727K mutation, although located in the LBD, did not alter any ligand-binding characteristic of the AR in the patient's fibroblasts or when expressed in heterologous cells. Nonetheless, the mutant AR displayed only half of wild-type transactivation capacity when exposed to physiological or synthetic androgens. This transactivation defect was consistently present when examined with two different reporter systems in three cell lines, using three androgen-driven promoters (including the complex human prostate-specific antigen promoter), confirming the pathogenicity of the mutation. In mammalian two-hybrid assays, N727K disrupted LBD interactions with the AR TAD and with the coactivator, transcription intermediary factor 2 (TIF2). Strikingly, the transactivation defect of the mutant AR can be rectified in vitro with mesterolone, consistent with the ability of this androgen analog to restore sperm production in vivo. Mesterolone, but not the physiological androgen dihydrotestosterone, restored mutant LBD interactions with the TAD and with TIF2, when expressed as fusion proteins in the two-hybrid assay. Our data support an emerging paradigm with respect to AR mutations in the LBD and male infertility: pathogenicity is transmitted through reduced interdomain and coactivator interactions, and androgen analogs that are corrective in vitro may indicate hormonal therapy.