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ToxSci Advance Access published online on June 20, 2006
Toxicological Sciences, doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfl038
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received May 4, 2006
Accepted June 9, 2006

Endocrine Toxicology

Evidence for a Novel Endocrine Disruptor: The Pesticide Propanil Requires the Ovaries and Steroid Synthesis to Enhance Humoral Immunity

Keith D. Salazar 1, Michael R. Miller 2, John B. Barnett 1, and Rosana Schafer 1 *

1 Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Rosana Schafer, E-mail: rschafer{at}hsc.wvu.edu


  Abstract

Steroid hormones are known to affect the humoral immune response to a variety of antigens. However, the mechanisms regulating these effects are poorly understood. The immunotoxic chemical, propanil, and estrogen have similar effects on the immune system including augmentation of humoral immune responses. Propanil enhances the number of phosphorylcholine (PC)-specific IgG2b, IgG3, and IgM antibody secreting cells (ASC) in the spleen 4-6-fold 7 days after vaccination of female C57BL/6 mice with heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae (HKSP). Several experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that propanil increases the response via an estrogenic pathway. Ovariectomy abrogated the effect of propanil on the PC-specific ASC response. Both in vitro and in vivo assays indicate that propanil does not bind either ER{alpha} or ER{beta}. Exogenous estradiol administration in ovariectomized mice failed to restore the effect of propanil on the PC response. Treatment of female mice with a pure ER antagonist, ICI 182,780, or the progesterone antagonist, RU-486, did not inhibit the increase in ASC. These data suggest that estrogen and progesterone do not regulate the effect of propanil. However, complete inhibition of steroid synthesis with the GnRH antagonist, antide, abrogated the increased response in propanil-treated mice, indicating a necessary role for steroid synthesis. Experiments in male mice demonstrated that propanil increased the number of ASC comparable to female mice. However, orchiectomy did not inhibit this effect, suggesting that androgens do not regulate the amplification of the humoral response. These data suggest a novel role for the ovarian hormones in the regulation of the PC-specific antibody response.

Keywords: pesticide; estrogen; Streptococcus pneumoniae; humoral immunity; ovary; propanil.
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