During the past decade there has been a substantial advance in our understanding of estrogen signaling both from a clinical as well as a preclinical perspective. Estrogen signaling is a balance between two opposing forces in the form of two distinct receptors (ERα and ERβ) and their splice variants. The prospect that these two pathways can be selectively stimulated or inhibited with subtype-selective drugs constitutes new and promising therapeutic opportunities in clinical areas as diverse as hormone replacement, autoimmune diseases, prostate and breast cancer, and depression. Molecular biological, biochemical, and structural studies have generated information which is invaluable for the development of more selective and effective ER ligands. We have also become aware that ERs do not function by themselves but require a number of coregulatory proteins whose cell-specific expression explains some of the distinct cellular actions of estrogen. Estrogen is an important morphogen, and many of its proliferative effects on the epithelial compartment of glands are mediated by growth factors secreted from the stromal compartment. Thus understanding the cross-talk between growth factor and estrogen signaling is essential for understanding both normal and malignant growth. In this review we focus on several of the interesting recent discoveries concerning estrogen receptors, on estrogen as a morphogen, and on the molecular mechanisms of anti-estrogen signaling.

Estrogen receptor (ER) β counteracts the activity of ERα in many systems. In agreement with this, we show in this study that induced expression of ERβ in the breast cancer cell line T47D reduces 17β-estradiol-stimulated proliferation when expression of ERβ mRNA equals that of ERα. Induction of ERβ reduces growth of exponentially proliferating cells with a concomitant decrease in components of the cell cycle associated with proliferation, namely cyclin E, Cdc25A (a key regulator of Cdk2), p45 Skp2 (a key regulator of p27 Kip1 proteolysis), and an increase in the Cdk inhibitor p27 Kip1 . We also observed a reduced Cdk2 activity. These findings suggest a possible role for ERβ in breast cancer and imply that ERβ-specific ligands may reduce proliferation of ER-positive breast cancer cells through actions on the G 1 phase cell-cycle machinery.

No abstract