Steroid hormones plasma binding proteins

The most frequent protein in the plasma, at around 45 g is albumin. Due to its high concentration, it plays a crucial role in maintaining the blood s colloid osmotic pressure and represents an important amino acid reserve for the body. Albumin has binding sites for apolar substances and therefore functions as a transport protein for long-chain fatty acids, bilirubin, drugs, and some steroid hormones and vitamins. In addition, serum albumin binds Ca "" and Mg "" ions. It is the only important plasma protein that is not glycosylated. 

The ABC1 protein is a member of a large family of multidrug transporters, sometimes called ABC transporters because they all have ATP-binding cassettes they also have two transmembrane domains with six transmembrane helices (Chapter 11). These proteins actively transport a variety of ions, amino acids, vitamins, steroid hormones, and bile salts across plasma membranes. The CFTR protein that is defective in cystic fibrosis (see Box 11-3) is another member of this ABC family of multidrug transporters. 

Release from the liver When needed, retinol is released from fie liver and transported to extrahepatic tissues by the plasma retax -binding protein (RBP). The retinol-RBP complex attaches to spe cific receptors on the surface of the cells of peripheral tissues, permitting retinol to enter. Many tissues contain a cellular letaiol-binding protein that carries retinol to sites in the nucleus where the vitamin acts in a manner analogous to steroid hormones. 

Each steroid hormone diffuses across the plasma membrane of its target cell and binds to a specific cytosolic or nuclear receptor. These receptor-ligand complexes accumulate in the nucleus, dimerize, and bind to specific regulatory DIMA sequences (hormone-response elements) in association with coactivator proteins, thereby causing promoter activation and increased transcription of targeted genes. 

Albumin is the most abundant protein in human and other animal plasma. It is estimated that up to 40% of the total albumin in humans is in circulation transporting essential nutrients, especially those that are sparingly soluble in aqueous-based plasma. For example, the fatty acids, which are important fuel molecules for the peripheral tissue, are distributed by albumin. In addition, albumin is the plasma transport protein for other substances including bilirubin, thyroxine, and steroid hormones. Also, many drugs including aspirin, sulfanilamides, clofibrate, and digitalis bind to albumin and are most likely carried to their sites of action by the protein. 

Plasma levels of some hormones (thyroid and steroid hormones), vitamins (vitamin D metabolites), ions (iron, copper, and zinc) and drugs maybe low in nephrotic subjects because of the low levels of protein-bound ligands (K11), as binding proteins are lost into the urine. Ligands also may be lost in the urine together with their... 

Hormones Some lipophilic hormones (e.g. the steroid hormones, thyroxine, retinoic acid and vitamin D) diffuse across the plasma membrane and interact with intracellular receptors in the cytosol or nucleus. Other lipophilic hormones (e.g. the prostaglandins) and hydrophilic hormones (e.g. the peptide hormones insulin and glucagon and the biogenic amines epinephrine and histamine) bind to receptor proteins in the plasma membrane. 

Lipid-soluble hormones act usually by gene activation/deactivation. Examples of these hormones include steroids, thyroid hormone, and vitamin A (retinoic acid). The hormones are transported through the circulation in association with a hormone-binding protein and are soluble in the plasma membrane of the cell. Their receptors are intracellular, and they act on gene transcription (the synthesis of messenger RNA) rather than at the protein level. Thus, they act more slowly than do the soluble hormones, on the scale of days rather than minutes. 

The steroid hormones are hydrophobic, this property enabling them to readily cross the plasma membrane to bind their respective cytosolic receptors. However, transport of such hydrophobic hormones through the blood stream requires hormone-binding proteins such as the steroid-binding globulins and corticosteroid-binding globulins. 

Steroid hormones (e.g., cortisol and estrogen) are hydro-phobic and insoluble in water. These hormones circulate in plasma, reversibly bound to transport proteins (e.g., cortisol-binding globulin and sex-hormone binding globulin) with only a small fraction free or unbound available to exert physiological action.The half-life of steroid hormones is 30 to 90 minutes. Free steroid hormones, being hydrophobic, enter the cell by passive diffusion and bind with intracellular receptors either in the cytoplasm or the nucleus. ... 

---