Development of support matrices for affinity chromatography of thyroid hormone receptors

Certain cellular responses to thyroid hormones appear to be mediated by non-histone chromatin protein receptors. Purification of these proteins is important for an investigation of the detailed mechanisms of their regulatory role. In the present studies, we report the development of an affinity chromatographic system that can be used to purify thyroid hormone receptors solubilized from nuclei. Amine-substituted hormone analogs were prepared with D and L isomers of T3; these bind to the receptor. This finding supports the hypothesis that thyroid hormones fit into the receptor with the amino groups accessible from outside the binding site. Although L-triiodothyronine (LT3) (the naturally occurring isomer) binds more tightly (relative Kd = 1.0 nM) to the nuclear receptor than D-triiodothyronine (DT3) (relative Kd = 2.0 nM), the amine-substituted analog of DT3 binds more tightly than the LT3 analog (DT3 analog, relative Kd = 40 nM; LT3 analog, relative Kd = 1500 nM). Agarose-based gels containing DT3 and LT3 covalently coupled by their amino groups were also prepared. Binding of receptor to these gels was biospecific in that it could be inhibited by prior incubation of the receptors with LT3. In addition, as predicted by the analog studies, the DT3 affinity gels were more effective than LT3 gels in adsorbing receptor. Elution of receptor from the LT3-derived gels was achieved in a predicted volume and concentration of counter-ligand in elution buffer. These results suggest that affinity chromatography can be applied to the purification of thyroid hormone receptors.