Rapid screening of glucocorticoid receptor (Gr) effectors using cortisol‐detecting sensor cells

Jeahee Ryu, Euiyeon Lee, Chungwon Kang, Minhyeong Lee, Soyoun Kim, Seungil Park, Dae Yeon Lee, Youngeun Kwon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cortisol, a stress hormone, plays key roles in mediating stress and anti‐inflammatory responses. As abnormal cortisol levels can induce various adverse effects, screening cortisol and cortisol analogues is important for monitoring stress levels and for identifying drug candidates. A novel cell‐based sensing system was adopted for rapid screening of cortisol and its functional analogues under complex cellular regulation. We used glucocorticoid receptor (GR) fused to a split intein which reconstituted with the counterpart to trigger conditional protein splicing (CPS) in the presence of targets. CPS generates functional signal peptides which promptly translocate the fluorescent cargo. The sensor cells exhibited exceptional performance in discriminating between the functional and structural analogues of cortisol with improved sensitivity. Essential oil extracts with stress relief activity were screened using the sensor cells to identify GR effectors. The sensor cells responded to peppermint oil, and L‐limonene and L‐menthol were identified as potential GR effectors from the major components of peppermint oil. Further analysis indicated L‐limonene as a selective GR agonist (SEGRA) which is a potential anti‐inflammatory agent as it attenuates proinflammatory responses without causing notable adverse effects of GR agonists.

Original languageEnglish
Article number4747
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume22
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 May 2021

Keywords

  • Cell‐based sensor
  • Conditional protein splicing
  • Cortisol
  • Glucocorticoid receptor (GR)
  • GR effector
  • Selective GR agonist
  • Signal peptide reconstitution

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