Lusine Demirkhanyan

The TRPM8 Protein Is a Testosterone Receptor II. FUNCTIONAL EVIDENCE FOR AN IONOTROPIC EFFECT OF TESTOSTERONE ON TRPM8

Background: TRPM8 channels are highly expressed in prostate tissues, where the role of this cold receptor is not well understood. Results: Testosterone activates TRPM8 in various cellular systems and in the planar lipid bilayers. Conclusion: TRPM8 is an ionotropic testosterone receptor. Significance: TRPM8 channels may be implicated in various physiological processes regulated by androgens. Testosterone is a key steroid hormone in the development of male reproductive tissues and the regulation of the central nervous system. The rapid signaling mechanism induced by testosterone affects numerous behavioral traits, including sexual drive, aggressiveness, and fear conditioning. However, the currently identified testosterone receptor(s) is not believed to underlie the fast signaling, suggesting an orphan pathway. Here we report that an ion channel from the transient receptor potential family, TRPM8, commonly known as the cold and menthol receptor is the major component of testosterone-induced rapid actions. Using cultured and primary cell lines along with the purified TRPM8 protein, we demonstrate that testosterone directly activates TRPM8 channel at low picomolar range. Specifically, testosterone induced TRPM8 responses in primary human prostate cells, PC3 prostate cancer cells, dorsal root ganglion neurons, and hippocampal neurons. Picomolar concentrations of testosterone resulted in full openings of the purified TRPM8 channel in planar lipid bilayers. Furthermore, acute applications of testosterone on human skin elicited a cooling sensation. Our data conclusively demonstrate that testosterone is an endogenous and highly potent agonist of TRPM8, suggesting a role of TRPM8 channels well beyond their well established function in somatosensory neurons. This discovery may further imply TRPM8 channel function in testosterone-dependent behavioral traits.

The TRPM8 Protein Is a Testosterone Receptor I. BIOCHEMICAL EVIDENCE FOR DIRECT TRPM8-TESTOSTERONE INTERACTIONS

Background: TRPM8 channels are highly expressed in prostate tissues, where the role of this cold receptor is not well understood. Results: Testosterone directly interacts with the TRPM8 protein. Conclusion: TRPM8 is a testosterone receptor. Significance: TRPM8 channels may be implicated in various physiological processes regulated by androgens. The transient receptor potential ion channel of the melastatin subfamily, TRPM8, is a major cold receptor in the peripheral nervous system. Along with the sensory neurons, the TRPM8 protein is highly expressed in the prostate epithelial cells, and this expression is regulated by androgens. Here we investigated the expression and intracellular localization of the TRPM8 channel in relationship to androgens. We performed experiments using human prostate tissues obtained from healthy individuals and patients with prostate cancer at various stages of the disease as well as in cultured cells. Using an immunohistochemistry approach, we detected an intensive colocalization pattern of the TRPM8 protein with endogenous androgens in all tissues tested, suggesting possible interactions. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments performed using cultured prostate epithelial cells, prostate cancer cells, and HEK-293 cells stably expressing TRPM8 further confirmed direct binding of the steroid hormone, testosterone, to the TRPM8 protein. Applications of picomolar concentrations of testosterone to the primary human prostate cells, endogenously expressing TRPM8, elicited Ca2+ responses and channel currents, and those were inhibited in the presence of TRPM8 antagonist, N-(2-aminoethyl)-N-(4-(benzyloxy)-3-methoxybenzyl)thiophene-2-carboxamide hydrochloride. These results indicate that the TRPM8 channel is physically associated with testosterone and suggest that, in addition to a genomic role, testosterone plays a role in direct regulation of the TRPM8 channel function.

Contribution of inorganic polyphosphate towards regulation of mitochondrial free calcium.

BACKGROUND Calcium signaling plays a key role in the regulation of multiple processes in mammalian mitochondria, from cellular bioenergetics to the induction of stress-induced cell death. While the total concentration of calcium inside the mitochondria can increase by several orders of magnitude, the concentration of bioavailable free calcium in mitochondria is maintained within the micromolar range by the mitochondrial calcium buffering system. This calcium buffering system involves the participation of inorganic phosphate. However, the mechanisms of its function are not yet understood. Specifically, it is not clear how calcium-orthophosphate interactions, which normally lead to formation of insoluble precipitates, are capable to dynamically regulate free calcium concentration. Here we test the hypothesis that inorganic polyphosphate, which is a polymerized form of orthophosphate, is capable to from soluble complexes with calcium, playing a significant role in the regulation of the mitochondrial free calcium concentration. METHODS We used confocal fluorescence microscopy to measure the relative levels of mitochondrial free calcium in cultured hepatoma cells (HepG2) with variable levels of inorganic polyphosphate (polyP). RESULTS The depletion of polyP leads to the significantly lower levels of mitochondrial free calcium concentration under conditions of pathological calcium overload. These results are coherent with previous observations showing that inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) can inhibit calcium-phosphate precipitation and, thus, increase the amount of free calcium. CONCLUSIONS Inorganic polyphosphate plays an important role in the regulation of mitochondrial free calcium, leading to its significant increase. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE Inorganic polyphosphate is a previously unrecognized integral component of the mitochondrial calcium buffering system.

Stimulation-dependent gating of TRPM3 channel in planar lipid bilayers

The transient receptor potential melastatin (TRPM)‐3 channel is critical for various physiologic processes. In somatosensory neurons, TRPM3 has been implicated in temperature perception and inflammatory hyperalgesia, whereas in pancreatic β‐cells the channel has been linked to glucose‐induced insulin release. As a typical representative of the TRP family, TRPM3 is highly polymodal. In cells, it is activated by heat and chemical agonists, including pregnenolone sulfate (PS) and nifedipine (Nif). To define the nuances of TRPM3 channel activity and its modulators, we succeeded in incorporating the TRPM3 protein into planar lipid bilayers. We found that phosphatidylinositol‐4,5‐bisphosphate (PIP2) or clotrimazole is necessary for channel opening by PS. Unlike PS, the presence of Nif alone sufficed to induce TRPM3 activity and demonstrated distinct gating behavior. We also performed an extensive thermodynamic analysis of TRPM3 activation and found that TRPM3 exhibited slight temperature sensitivity in the bilayers. In the absence of other agonists TRPM3 channels remained closed upon heat‐induced stimulation, but opened in the presence of PIP2, although with only a low open‐probability profile. Together, our results elucidate the details peculiar to TRPM3 channel function in an isolated system. We confirmed its direct gating by PS and PIP2, but found a lack of the strong intrinsic temperature sensitivity common to other thermosensitive TRP channels.—Kunitoshi, U., Demirkhanyan, L., Asuthkar, S., Cohen, A., Tominaga, M., Zakharian, E., Stimulation‐dependent gating of TRPM3 channel in planar lipid bilayers. FASEB J. 30, 1306–1316 (2016). www.fasebj.org

High-throughput proteome analysis reveals targeted TRPM8 degradation in prostate cancer

The Ca2+-permeable ion channel TRPM8 is a hallmark of the prostate epithelium. We recently discovered that TRPM8 is an ionotropic testosterone receptor. This finding suggested that testosterone-induced TRPM8 activity regulates Ca2+ homeostasis in the prostate epithelium. Since androgens are significantly implicated in prostate cancer development, the role of the novel testosterone receptor TRPM8 in cancer was assessed in our study. Although TRPM8 mRNA levels increase at the early prostate cancer stages, we found that it is not proportionally translated into TRPM8 protein levels. High-throughput proteome analysis revealed that TRPM8 degradation is enhanced in human prostate cancer cells. This degradation is executed via a dual degradation mechanism with the involvement of both lysosomal and proteasomal proteolytic pathways. The evaluation of the TRPM8 expression pattern in prostate cancer patients further confirmed the incidence of TRPM8 removal from the plasma membrane and its internalization pattern coincided with the severity of the tumor. Together, our results indicate that enhanced TRPM8 hydrolysis in prostate cancer could present an adaptation mechanism, sustained via bypassing testosterone-induced rapid Ca2+ uptake through TRPM8, thus, diminishing the rates of apoptosis. In this light, recovery of TRPM8 may pose a novel therapeutic strategy for an anti-tumor defense mechanism.

TRPM3 gating in planar lipid bilayers defines peculiar agonist specificity

Lusine Demirkhanyan, Kunitoshi Uchida, Makoto Tominaga, and Eleonora Zakharian Department of Cancer Biology and Pharmacology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, IL, USA; Division of Cell Signaling, National Institute of Physiological Sciences (Okazaki Institute of Integrative Bioscience), Okazaki, Aichi, Japan; Department of Physiological Sciences, The Graduate University of Advanced Studies, Shonan Village, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan