NRIP, a novel nuclear receptor interaction protein, enhances the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors

Transcriptional regulation by members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily is a modular process requiring the mediation of distinct subclasses of coregulators. In this study, we isolated a novel WD40 repeat-containing gene, human nuclear receptor interaction protein (NRIP). We found NRIP interacts with either androgen or glucocorticoid receptors from in vitro and in vivo pulldown assays. Subsequently, transient transfection and luciferase activity assays suggested that NRIP was a ligand-dependent coactivator of steroid receptors (androgen and glucocorticoid) in distinct promoters. To further clarify the function of NRIP, we found an RNA interference-3-targeted NRIP gene sequence (5′-GATGATACAGCACGAGAAC-3′) that could efficiently and specifically knock down endogenous and exogenous NRIP gene expression and that significantly diminished cell proliferation in prostate (LNCaP) and cervical (C33A) cells. Therefore, NRIP may play a role in enhancing the transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors and may be a critical target for developing therapeutic agents against nuclear receptor-mediated progression of prostate and cervical cancers.