We report here the identification and characterization of a novel nuclear receptor coactivator, ERAP140. ERAP140 was isolated in a screen for ER alpha-interacting proteins using the ER alpha ligand binding domain as a probe. The ERAP140 protein shares no sequence and has little structural homology with other nuclear receptor cofactors. However, homologues of ERAP140 have been identified in mous...

Background: Estrogen-negative breast cancers have different clinical course, prognostic features and treatment response in comparison to estrogen receptor-positive (ER-positive) breast cancers. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) oncoprotein has found to have a pivotal role in natural cell growth and cell division and is suggested to be directly related to tumor invasiveness in brea...

Sexual behavior in many mammals is characterized by its dependence on circulating titer of sex hormones and sexual dimorphism. Sexual dimorphism in female and male behavior depends, not on genetic sex but on early actions of sex hormone at a specific period during ontogenesis in each species. The period, termed the critical period for the brain sex differentiation, spans over gestational day 18...

BACKGROUND Estrogen is an established enhancer of breast cancer development, but less is known on its effect on local progression or metastasis. We studied the effect of estrogen receptor recruitment on actin cytoskeleton remodeling and breast cancer cell movement and invasion. Moreover, we characterized the signaling steps through which these actions are enacted. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDIN...

BACKGROUND The importance of surface epithelium and epithelial inclusion cysts in the ovary arises from studies demonstrating that these structures are susceptible to epithelial ovarian cancer development. The expression of estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha), androgen receptor (AR), in epithelial cells of the ovary from premenopausal and postmenopausal women is interesting because sexual steroi...

Estrogens are involved in a multiplicity of programmed events in target tissues e.g.: uterus, breast, and pituitary gland, and hormone-responsive tumors occur at these target sites. We have addressed the possibility that all of the estrogens do not produce the same conformation of estrogen receptor alpha (ER). A novel assay in vitro was used to activate the transforming growth factor alpha (TGF...

BACKGROUND Estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) is expressed in the majority of breast cancers and promotes estrogen-dependent cancer progression. ER alpha positive breast cancer can be well controlled by ER alpha modulators, such as tamoxifen. However, tamoxifen resistance is commonly observed by altered ER alpha signaling. Thus, further understanding of the molecular mechanisms, which regulates...

The ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) is a sexually dimorphic region of the brain related to female reproductive behavior. The effect of estrogen in the adult rat VMH is thought to be mediated predominantly via estrogen receptor (ER)alpha, because this receptor is expressed at considerably higher levels than ER beta. The present study revealed, using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry...

Breast tumors expressing estrogen receptor alpha (ER) respond well to therapeutic strategies using SERMs (selective estrogen receptor modulators) such as tamoxifen. However, about thirty percent of invasive breast cancers are hormone independent because they lack ER expression due to hypermethylation of ER promoter. Treatment of ER-negative breast cancer cells with demethylating agents and hist...

Evidence supporting a role for estrogen in male reproductive tract development and function has been collected from rodents and humans. These studies fall into three categories: i) localization of aromatase and the target protein for estrogen (ER-alpha and ER-beta) in tissues of the reproductive tract; ii) analysis of testicular phenotypes in transgenic mice deficient in aromatase, ER-alpha and...