Abstract
Nuclear receptors (NRs) are ligand-activated transcription factors. Class 2 NRs, such as the liver X receptor (LXR)α and (LXR)β, are typically retained in the nucleus bound to the DNA in both the presence and absence of ligand. Upon binding ligands including hydroxylated cholesterol, LXR releases corepressor proteins in exchange for coactivators resulting in target gene transcription. Activity of the LXRs therefore depends on a combination of the local ligand concentration(s) and cofactor expression, which itself is a function of cell and tissue type, mutation load, and epigenetic regulation. Cross talk with other transcription factors or signaling pathways can also alter LXR activity. The role that LXR plays in both normal physiology and disease progression is becoming increasingly apparent, and a better understanding of how and when LXR is activated or repressed is pressing biological and clinical questions.
The complexity of LXR regulation makes identifying novel ligands and determining LXR activity in new cell types challenging. Generating cell lines that contain a stably integrated luciferase reporter gene with an upstream LXR-dependent promoter provides a quick, cheap, robust, efficient, and high-throughput solution to identify novel ligands and assess ligand activity in new cell types. Transplant of these stable cell culture cell lines as xenografts allows reporter activation to be assessed in vivo. Here we describe the generation of stable LXR reporter cell lines, how to confirm transgene insertion and select single cell clones, as well a method to assess transgene activity in vitro.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Thorne JL, Campbell MJ, Turner BM (2009) Transcription factors, chromatin and cancer. Int J Biochem Cell Biol 41(1):164–175
Cannon MV, van Gilst WK, de Boer RA (2016) Emerging role of liver X receptors in cardiac pathophysiology and heart failure. Basic Res Cardiol 111:3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00395-015-0520-7
Vedin L-L, Lewandowski SA, Parini P, Gustafsson J-A, Steffensen K (2009) The oxysterol receptor LXR inhibits proliferation of human breast cancer cells. Carcinogenesis 30(4):575–579
Gonzalez NA, Castrillo A (2011) Liver X receptors as regulators of macrophage inflammatory and metabolic pathways. Biochim Biophys Acta 1812:982–994
Kidani Y, Bensinger SJ (2012) LXR and PPAR as integrators of lipid homeostasis and immunity. Immunol Rev 249(1):72–83
Prüfer K, Boudreaux J (2007) Nuclear localization of liver X receptor a and ß is differentially regulated. J Cell Biochem 100:69–85
Battaglia S, Maguire O, Thorne JL, Hornung LB, Doig CL, Liu S, Sucheston LE, Bianchi A, Khanim FL, Gommersall LM, Coulter HS, Rakha S, Giddings I, O'Neill LP, Cooper CS, McCabe CJ, Bunce CM, Campbell MJ (2010) Elevated NCOR1 disrupts PPARalpha/gamma signaling in prostate cancer and forms a targetable epigenetic lesion. Carcinogenesis 31(9):1650–1660. https://doi.org/10.1093/carcin/bgq086
Long MDTJL, Russell J, Battaglia S, Singh PK, Sucheston-Campbell LE, Campbell MJ (2014) Cooperative behavior of the nuclear receptor superfamily and its deregulation in prostate cancer. Carcinogenesis 35(2):262–271
Alioui A, Dufour J, Leoni V, Loregger A, Moeton M, Iuliano L, Zerbinati C, Septier A, Val P, Fouache A, Russo V, Volle DH, Lobaccaro J-MA, Zelcer N, Baron S (2017) Liver X receptors constrain tumor development and metastasis dissemination in PTEN-deficient prostate cancer. Nat Commun 8(1):445. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00508-5
Pencheva N, Buss CG, Posada J, Merghoub T, Tavazoie SF (2014) Broad-spectrum therapeutic suppression of metastatic melanoma through nuclear hormone receptor activation. Cell 156:986–1001
Dalenc F, Iuliano L, Filleron T, Zerbinati C, Voisin M, Arellano C, Charelut E, Marquet P, Samadi M et al (2016) Circulating oxysterol metabolites as potential new surrogate markers in patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer: results of the OXYTAM study. J Steroid Biochem 169:210–218
Nelson ER, Wardell SE, Jasper JS, Park S, Suchindran S, Howe MK, Carver NJ, Pillai RV, Sullivan PM, Sondhi V, Umetani M, Geradts J, McDonnell DP (2013) 27-Hydroxycholesterol links hypercholesterolemia and breast Cancer pathophysiology. Science 342:1094–1098
Janowski BA, Willy PJ, Devi TR, Falck JR, Mangelsdorf DJ (1996) An oxysterol pathway mediated by the nuclear receptor LXRa. Nature 383(6602):728–731
Tamehiro N, Sato Y, Suzuki T, Hashimoto T, Asakawa Y, Yokoyama S, Kawanishi T, Ohno Y, Inoue K, Nagao T, Nishimaki-Mogami T (2005) Riccardin C: a natural product that functions as a liver X receptor (LXR)alpha agonist and an LXRbeta antagonist. FEBS Lett 579(24):5299–5304
Pfeifer T, Buchebner M, Chandak PG, Patankar J, Kratzer A, Obrowsky S, Rechberger GN, Kadam RS, Kompella UB, Kostner GM, Kratky D, Levak-Frank S (2011) Synthetic LXR agonist suppresses endogenous cholesterol biosynthesis and efficiently lowers plasma cholesterol. Curr Pharm Biotechnol 12(2):285–292
Mitro NMPA, Vargas L, Godio C, Hampton E, Molteni V, Kreusch A, Saez E (2007) The nuclear receptor LXR is a glucose sensor. Nature Letters 445(7124):219–223
Griffiths WJ, Crick PJ, Wang Y (2013) Methods for oxysterol analysis: past, present and future. Biochem Pharmacol 86(1):3–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2013.01.027
McDonald JG, Smith DD, Stiles AR, Russell DW (2012) A comprehensive method for extraction and quantitative analysis of sterols and secosteroids from human plasma. J Lipid Res 53(7):1399–1409
Stiles AR, Kozlitina J, Thompson BM, McDonald JG, King KS, Russell DW (2014) Genetic, anatomic, and clinical determinants of human serum sterol and vitamin D levels. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(38):E4006–E4014. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413561111
Wu Q, Ishikawa T, Sirianni R, Tang H, McDonald JG, Yuhanna IS, Thompson B, Girard L, Mineo C, Brekken RA, Umetani M, Euhus DM, Xie Y, Shaul PW (2013) 27-Hydroxycholesterol promotes cell-autonomous, ER-positive breast Cancer growth. Cell Rep 5(3):637–645
Kaneko EMM, Yamada Y, Tachibana Y, Shimomura I, Makishima M (2003) Induction of intestinal ATP-binding cassette transporters by a phytosterol-derived liver X receptor agonist. J Biol Chem 278(38):36091–36098
Nedumaran B, KGS HS, Yoon Y-S, Kim Y-H, Lee C-H, Koo S-H, Choi H-S (2010) Orphan nuclear receptor DAX-1 acts as a novel Corepressor of liver X receptor alpha and inhibits hepatic Lipogenesis. J Biol Chem 285(12):9221–9232
Plat J, Nichols JA, Mensink RP (2005) Plant sterols and stanols: effects on mixed micellar composition and LXR (target gene) activation. J Lipid Res 46(11):2468–2476. https://doi.org/10.1194/jlr.M500272-JLR200
Gage MC, Pourcet B, Pineda-Torra I (2016) Luciferase reporter assays to assess liver X receptor transcriptional activity. Methods Mol Biol 1376:77–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3170-5_7
Acknowledgments
Grant funding from Breast Cancer UK and Breast Cancer Research Action Group helped support the development of the assays described here. The authors would like to thank Zixuan Zhang (School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds) for critical evaluation and proofreading of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Hutchinson, S.A., Thorne, J.L. (2019). A Stable Luciferase Reporter System to Characterize LXR Regulation by Oxysterols and Novel Ligands. In: Gage, M., Pineda-Torra, I. (eds) Lipid-Activated Nuclear Receptors. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1951. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9130-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9130-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-9129-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-9130-3
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols