Localization and synthesis of the hormone-binding regions of the human thyrotropin receptor

Two regions of human thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone, TSH) receptor (TSHR) (residues 12-44 and 308-364) were selected on the basis that they exhibit no sequence resemblance to luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin receptor. Five synthetic overlapping peptides (12-30, 24-44, 308-328, 324-344, and 339-364) were studied for their ability to bind 125I-labeled human TSH (hTSH), its isolated alpha and beta subunits, bovine TSH, ovine TSH, human luteinizing hormone, and human follicle-stimulating hormone. The human TSHR peptides 12-30 and 324-344 exhibited remarkable binding activity to human, bovine, and ovine TSH and to the beta chain of hTSH. Lower binding activity resided in the adjacent overlapping peptides, probably due to the contribution of the shared overlap to the binding. The specificity of TSH binding to these peptides was confirmed by their inability to bind human luteinizing hormone, human follicle-stimulating hormone, and the alpha chain of hTSH. Thyrotropins did not bind to bovine serum albumin or to peptide controls unrelated to the TSHR system. Furthermore, the binding of hTSH to TSHR peptides 12-30 and 324-344 was almost completely (approximately 90%) inhibited by rabbit antibodies against hTSH but not by antisera against unrelated proteins. It is concluded that the binding of TSH to its receptor involves extensive contacts and that the TSHR peptides 12-30 and 324-344 contain specific binding regions for TSH that might be either independent sites or two faces (subsites) within a large binding site.