Estrogen effects on MCF-7 breast cancer cells co-expressing ERa and ERb

Two subtypes of the estrogen receptor, ERalpha and ERbeta, mediate the actions of estrogens, and the majority of human breast tumors contain both ERalpha and ERbeta. To examine the possible interactions and modulatory effects of ERbeta on ERalpha activity, we have used adenoviral gene delivery to produce human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells expressing ERbeta, along with their endogenous ERalpha. We have examined the effects of ER expression on genome-wide gene expression by Affymetrix GeneChip microarrays. We find that ERbeta modulated estrogen gene expression on nearly 24% of E2-stimulated genes but only 8% of E2-inhibited genes. We find that ERbeta modulation is gene-specific, enhancing or counteracting ERalpha regulation for distinct subsets of estrogen target genes. Introduction of ERbeta into ERalpha-containing cells induced up/down-regulation of many estrogen target in the absence of any added ligand. In addition, ERbeta presence elicited the expression of a unique set of genes that were not regulated by ERalpha alone. ERbeta modulated the expression of genes in many functional categories, but the greatest numbers were associated with transcription factor and signal transduction pathways. Regulation of multiple components in the TGF beta, SDF1, and semaphorin pathways, may contribute to the suppression of proliferation observed with ERbeta both in the presence and absence of estrogen. Hence, ERbeta modulates ERalpha gene regulation in diverse ways that may contribute to its growth-inhibiting beneficial effects in breast cancer

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Chang EC, Frasor J, Komm B, Katzenellenbogen BS