A Multidisciplinary Approach to Understand the Functions of Thyroid Hormones

ABSTRACT:   
	The thyroid gland is one of the largest endocrine glands, which regulates, with the help of thyroid hormones, the metabolic rate, body energy and temperature, the use of other hormones and vitamins, and the growth and maturation of body tissues. Iodothyronine deiodinases (IDs) are selenoenzymes that catalyze the regioselective deiodination of thyroid hormones. The phenolic ring (5΄) deiodination of thyroxine (T4) by the type 1 and 2 enzymes (ID-1 and ID-2) produces the biologically active hormone, 3,5,3-triiodothyronine (T3). The tyrosyl ring (5) deiodination of T4 by the type 3 enzyme (ID-3) produces the biologically less active hormone rT3.  Recently, we showed that a naphthyl-based selenol bearing a thiol group in the close proximity to selenium acts as an excellent model for ID-3 by selectively removing iodine from T4 and T3 to produce rT3 and 3,3'-T2, respectively, under physiologically relevant conditions. We also showed that the naphthyl-based compounds having two selenols in the peri-positions exhibit much higher deiodinase activity than that with two thiols or a thiol-selenol pair.   In this lecture, various bioinorganic, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry aspects of thyroid hormones will be discussed.
	
ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 
	Prof. Mugesh's main research interests are to understand the chemistry and biology of medicinally important metalloproteins and to develop novel synthetic methodologies for functionally mimicking the active site of certain enzymes. His group is also interested in the design and synthesis of novel compounds as inhibitors of heme peroxidases and zinc hydrolases. Prof. Mughesh has been the recipient of Swarnajayanthi fellowship and Bhatnagar award. He is a fellow of the national academy of sciences, the indian academy of sciences, and the royal society of chemistry, UK.