The Peroxisomal 3-keto-acyl-CoA thiolase B Gene Expression Is under the Dual Control of PPARα and HNF4α in the Liver

PPARα and HNF4α are nuclear receptors that control gene transcription by direct binding to specific nucleotide sequences. Using transgenic mice deficient for either PPARα or HNF4α, we show that the expression of the peroxisomal3-keto-acyl-CoA thiolase B(Thb) is under the dependence of these two transcription factors. Transactivation and gel shift experiments identified a novel PPAR response element within intron 3 of theThbgene, by which PPARα but not HNF4α transactivates. Intriguingly, we found that HNF4α enhanced PPARα/RXRα transactivation from TB PPRE3 in a DNA-binding independent manner. Coimmunoprecipitation assays supported the hypothesis that HNF4α was physically interacting with RXR…

Effects of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha activation on pathways contributing to cholesterol homeostasis in rat hepatocytes

International audience; Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARa) activation by fibrates controls expression of several genes involved in hepatic cholesterol metabolism. Other genes could be indirectly controlled in response to changes in cellular cholesterol availability. To further understand how fibrates may affect cholesterol synthesis, we investigated in parallel the changes in the metabolic pathways contributing to cholesterol homeostasis in liver. Ciprofibrate increased HMG-CoA reductase and FPP synthase mRNA levels in rat hepatocytes, together with cholesterogenesis from [14C] acetate and [3H] mevalonate. The up-regulation observed in fenofibrate- and WY-14,643-treate…

Tissue-specific Expression of Two Peroxisomal 3-ketoacyl-CoA Thiolase Genes in Wild and PPARα-null Mice and Induction by Fenofibrate

Our laboratory cloned two peroxisomal 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase genes in mouse. These genes were named mThA (mouse peroxisomal Thiolase A) and mThB (mouse peroxisomal Thiolase B) by comparison with peroxisomal thiolase genes known in rat (Hijikata et al. 1990, Bodnar & Rachubinski, 1990). In this study, we analysed the tissue expression of the two thiolase genes on wild and on PPARa-null mice.

In rats, two peroxisomal 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase genes (A and B) have been cloned, whereas only one thiolase gene is found in humans. The aim of this study was thus to clone the different mouse thiolase genes in order to study both their tissue expression and their associated enzymatic activity. In this study, we cloned and characterized two mouse peroxisomal 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase genes (termed thiolase A and B). Both thiolase A and B genes contain 12 exons and 11 introns. Using RNA extracted from mouse liver, we cloned the two corresponding cDNAs. Thiolase A and B cDNAs possess an open reading frame of 1272 nucleotides encoding a protein of 424 amino acids. In the coding sequence, the tw…

Pharmacological Induction of Redundant Genes for a Therapy of X-ALD

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a recessive neurologic disease with an incidence among males of 1/17 000. Since the identification of the X-ALD gene (ABCD1) ten years ago (Mosser et al 1993), no satisfactory therapy has been available. A close homologue (ABCD2) was then cloned and presented as a putative modifier gene that could account for some of the extreme phenotypic variability of X-ALD (Lombard-Platet et al 1996). The inducibility of Abcd2 by the hypolipidemic drug fenofibrate in the liver of rodents (Albet et al 1997), correlated to a partial normalisation of the biochemical phenotype of X-ALD (Netik et al 1999), opened up the way of a pharmacological therapy of X-ALD. The b…