Cubilin and megalin expression and their interaction in the rat intestine: effect of thyroidectomy

Cubilin is a 460-kDa multipurpose, multidomain receptor that contains an NH2-terminal 110-residue segment followed by 8 epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like repeats and a contiguous stretch (representing nearly 88% of its mass) of 27 CUB (initially found in complement components C1r/C1s, Uegf, and bone morphogenic protein-1) domains. Cubilin binds to intrinsic factor (IF)-cobalamin (cbl, vitamin B12) complex and promotes the ileal transport of cbl. The 460-kDa form of cubilin is the predominant form present in the apical brush-border membranes of rat intestine, kidney, and yolk sac, but a 230-kDa form of cubilin is also noted in the intestinal membranes. In thyroidectomized (TDX) rats, levels of intestinal brush-border IF-[57Co]-labeled cbl binding, 460-kDa cubilin protein levels and tissue (kidney) accumulation of cbl were reduced by ∼70%. Immunoblot analysis using cubilin antiserum of intestinal total membranes from TDX rats revealed cubilin fragments with molecular masses of 200 and 300 kDa. Both of these bands, along with the 230-kDa band detected in the total membranes of control rats and unlike the 460-kDa form, failed to react with antiserum to EGF. Mucosal membrane cubilin associated with megalin was reduced from ∼12% in control to ∼4% in TDX rats, and this decreased association was not due to altered megalin levels. Thyroxine treatment of TDX rats resulted in reversal of all of these effects, including an increase to nearly 24% of cubilin associated with megalin. In vitro, megalin binding to cubilin occurred with the NH2-terminal region that contained the EGF-like repeats and CUB domains 1 and 2 but not with a downstream region that contained CUB domains 2–10. These studies indicate that thyroxine deficiency in rats results in decreased uptake and tissue accumulation of cbl caused mainly by destabilization and deficit of cubilin in the intestinal brush border.