Estrogen Receptors: How Do They Signal and What Are Their Targets

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 (ER alpha and ER beta) 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…