Immunodetection of 11Β-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 2 in Human Mineralocorticoid Target Tissues: Evidence for Nuclear Localization*

11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11βHSD) is an enzyme complex responsible for the conversion of hormonally active cortisol to inactive cortisone; two isoforms of the enzyme have been cloned and characterized. Clinical observations from patients with the hypertensive syndrome apparent mineralocorticoid excess, recently explained on the basis of mutations in the human 11βHSD2 gene, suggest that it is the 11βHSD2 isoform that serves a vital role in dictating specificity upon the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). We have raised a novel antibody in sheep against human 11βHSD2 using synthetic multiantigenic peptides and have examined the localization and subcellular distribution of 11βHSD2 in mineralocorticoid target tissues.