title: Non-nuclear estrogen receptor signaling in the endothelium.
abstract: In addition to the classical function of estrogen receptors (ER) as transcription factors, evidence continues to accumulate that they mediate non-nuclear processes in numerous cell types, including the endothelium, in which they activate endothelial NO synthase. Non-nuclear ER signaling entails unique post-translational modifications and protein-protein interactions of the receptor with adaptor molecules, kinases, and G proteins. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies in mice using an estrogen-dendrimer conjugate that is excluded from the nucleus indicate that non-nuclear ER activation underlies the migration and growth responses of endothelial cells to estrogen but not the growth responses of endometrial or breast cancer cells to the hormone. In this minireview, the features of ERα and protein-protein interactions that enable it to invoke extranuclear signaling in the endothelium and the consequences of that signaling are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Vascular Biology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chambliss
authors.forename: Michihisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Umetani
authors.forename: Chieko
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mineo
authors.forename: Philip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Shaul
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004727:Endothelium / Q000378:metabolism*; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D011485:Protein Binding; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha