Tissue-specific expression of an 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase with a truncated N-terminal domain. A potential mechanism for differential intracellular localization within mineralocorticoid target cells.

The enzyme 11 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11-HSD) is thought to confer specificity on the nonselective Type I adrenocorticoid receptor by converting glucocorticoids to receptor-inactive metabolites in mineralocorticoid target tissues. S1 nuclease analyses using a rat liver 11-HSD probe demonstrated tissue-specific expression of the 5' region of the 11-HSD gene in the liver, lung, and kidney not evident in previous studies. Renal tissue contained a unique protected species which mapped to a position within the coding region, consistent with a divergence in liver and kidney protein sequences. Screening of a rat kidney cDNA library resulted in the isolation of several clones (11-HSD1B) noncolinear in their 5' regions with the liver sequence (11-HSD1A). Nucleic acid sequence analysis showed that the divergent clones code for a protein lacking a 26-amino acid NH2-terminal putative membrane-spanning signal peptide. The deletion of the leader sequence from the microsomal 11-HSD1A protein may result in a nuclear localization of the 11-HSD1B isoform. The renal 11-HSD1A and 11-HSD1B species increased coordinately during ontogeny and in parallel with the developmental surge in glucocorticoids. At least three alternate sites of polyadenylation were found to be utilized by the 11-HSD gene. Southern blot analysis showed the presence of a single gene in the rat. This study shows the expression of a kidney-specific 11-HSD isoform which may protect the Type I adrenocorticoid receptor from occupation by glucocorticoids in the nucleus of a mineralocorticoid target cell.