Characterization of the interaction between androgen receptor and a new transcriptional inhibitor, SHP

SHP (short heterodimer partner) is an orphan nuclear receptor, first described for its interaction with nuclear receptors. This study explores a new way of inhibiting the androgen-signaling pathway. We demonstrated that SHP inhibited up to 97% of AR-induced activity. Characterization of AR/SHP interaction provided evidence of a clear ligand dependency. We also showed that the LXXI/LL motifs previously found on SHP mediated the interaction with the AR ligand-binding domain (AR-LBD), the motif responsible for the interaction being slightly different from that found with ER. The AR N-terminal domain (AR-NTD), in contrast to that of other nuclear receptors, accounts for most of the entire receptor transactivation potential. SHP also interacted with AR-NTD, thus stabilizing the interaction with AR. We demonstrated that SHP inhibited both AR-LBD and NTD-dependent transactivation, which evidenced for the first time a protein capable of inhibiting a steroid receptor amino-terminal-dependent transactivation. We further characterized the SHP mechanism of action by showing that SHP reversed AR coactivator-mediated activation. Conversely, FHL2 and TIF2 counteracted SHP-mediated inhibition of AR. SHP evidences a new way of inhibiting AR activity by competing with AR coactivators. This new type of inhibitor could dictate the activity of nuclear receptors, depending on the equilibrium between activators and inhibitors.