Cyclin D1 is a ligand-independent co-repressor for thyroid hormone receptors

Thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) are critical regulators of growth, differentiation, and homeostasis. TRs function by regulating the expression of thyroid hormone (T3) target genes in both ligand-dependent and -independent pathways. Distinct classes of co-regulatory proteins modulate these two pathways. We show here a novel role of cyclin D1 as a T3-independent corepressor for TRs. Cyclin D1 interacted with TR in vitro and in cells in a ligand-independent manner. Cyclin D1 acted to repress both the silencing activity of the unliganded TR and the transcriptional activity of the liganded TR. The repression was not due to the inhibition of the binding of TR to the thyroid hormone response element but by serving as a ligand-independent bridging factor to selectively recruit HDAC3 to form ternary complexes. The repression was augmented by increasing expression of HDAC3 but not by HDAC1 and was alleviated by trichostatin A. Thus, cyclin D1 is a novel ligand-independent co-repressor that opens a new paradigm to understand the molecular basis of the silencing action of TR.