Substrate and inhibitor specificity of the cloned human 11[beta] -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 isoform. Ferrari, Paolo, Robin E. Smith, John W. Funder, and Zygmunt S. Krozowski. Baker Medical Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
APStracts 3:0004E, 1996.
The 11[beta]-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type II (11[beta]HSD2) enzyme is thought to confer specificity on the mineralocortiocid receptor by inactivating glucocorticoids in mineralocortiocid target organs. The cloned 11[beta]HSD2 displayed K[mu] values for corticosterone and cortisol of 5.1 and 61 nM, respectively. Linearity in the dose-response curve ranged between 1 to 200 nM for corticosterone and 25 to 2000 nM for cortisol, with no evidence for complex kinetics. Inhibition of cortisol oxidation by other steroids was purely competitive in nature. Inhibition of 11[beta]HSD2 activity by the end-product or aldosterone occured only at supraphysiological levels, whereas corticosterone and deoxycorticosterone displayed significant inhibition at physiological concentrations, and progesterone at concentrations which occur during pregnancy. In intact transfected CHOP cells dexamethasone was converted to 11 -dehydrodexamethasone by 11[beta]HSD2 but not 11[beta]HSD1, an aspect that may be useful in evaluating 11[beta]HSD activity in intact cells.

Received 7 June 1995; accepted in final form 13 December 1995.
APS Manuscript Number E262-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 22 January 96