title: Emerging evidence of the importance of rapid, non-nuclear estrogen receptor signaling in the cardiovascular system.
abstract: Estrogen receptors are classically known as ligand-activated transcription factors that regulate gene transcription in cells in response to hormone binding. In addition to this "genomic" signaling pathway, a "rapid, non-nuclear" signaling pathway mediated by cell membrane-associated estrogen receptors also has been recognized. Although for many years there was little evidence to support any physiological relevance of rapid-signaling, very recently evidence has been accumulating supporting the importance of the rapid, non-nuclear signaling as potentially critical for the protective effects of estrogen in the cardiovascular system. Better understanding of the rapid, non-nuclear signaling potentially provides an opportunity to design "pathway-specific" selective estrogen receptor modulators capable of differentially regulating non-nuclear vs. genomic effects that may prove useful ultimately as specific therapies for cardiovascular diseases.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
authors.forename: Kazutaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Karas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D011960:Receptors, Estrogen