Specific inhibition of transcriptional activity of the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) by the splicing factor SF3a3

The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily and plays an important role in the degradation of xenobiotics in the liver. Using yeast two-hybrid screening, we identified SF3a3, a 60-kDa subunit of the splicing factor 3a complex, as a specific CAR-interacting protein. We further confirmed their interaction by both co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assay. Functional studies showed that overexpression of SF3a3 inhibited the reporter activity driven by a promoter containing CAR binding sequences by up to 50%, whereas reduced expression of SF3a3 activated the same reporter activity by approximately three-fold. The inhibitory function of SF3a3 is independent of the presence of TCPOBOP, a CAR ligand. These data suggest that SF3a3 functions as a co-repressor of CAR transcriptional activity, in addition to its canonical function.