Interaction of unsaturated fatty acids with anti-oestrogen-binding sites

Specific high-affinity binding sites for non-steroidal anti-oestrogens such as tamoxifen have been identified in many animal and human tissues. The function of these binding sites and the nature of their endogenous ligands are currently unknown. Our laboratory has previously reported that unsaturated fatty acids at micromolar concentrations inhibited [3H]tamoxifen binding to the anti-oestrogen-binding sites in rat liver, raising the possibility that fatty acids might represent endogenous ligands for these sites. These studies have now been extended to examine the mechanism by which fatty acids inhibit [3H]tamoxifen binding to the anti-oestrogen-binding site. Saturation analysis revealed that increasing concentrations of oleic acid progressively decreased the apparent binding affinity of these sites for [3H]tamoxifen without decreasing the total number of binding sites; however, the apparent dissociation constant did not vary linearly with the prevailing oleic acid concentration, suggesting that the inhibition of [3H]tamoxifen binding by fatty acid was not competitive in nature. Kinetic studies of [3H]tamoxifen binding showed that oleic acid did not affect the rate of association, but increased the rate of dissociation of [3H]tamoxifen from the anti-oestrogen-binding site; the latter finding would not be expected if oleic acid acted as a competitive inhibitor. Furthermore, incubation of a rat microsomal fraction with [3H]oleic acid in the absence and presence of excess non-radioactively labelled tamoxifen also failed to demonstrate direct competition between oleic acid and tamoxifen for the same binding site. It is concluded that oleic acid, and presumably other unsaturated fatty acids, do not compete for the anti-oestrogen-binding site and probably reduce its tamoxifen-binding affinity by some other mechanism, such as perturbation of the lipid environment of the binding site. The biological significance of this interaction of unsaturated fatty acids with the anti-oestrogen-binding site remains to be elucidated.