Identification and Characterization of Factors that Affect Estrogen Receptor Transcriptional Activation in Breast Cancer

摘要

Nearly half of human breast cancers are dependent on estrogen for growth. How estrogens stimulate cell growth is not understood. Estrogens activate an intracellular protein, the estrogen receptor (ER), which acts together with certain receptor-interacting proteins to 'switch on' some genes involved in cellular proliferation. The goal of this project is to identify and elucidate the roles of such receptor-interacting proteins in ER function. I have identified three proteins that interact with the ER using the yeast two-hybrid system, including the Vitamin D receptor-interacting protein 150 (DRIPl5O), subunit of a nuclear receptor coactivator complex. I am currently defining the effects of DRIPl5O on ER transcriptional activity using a transient transfection system designed to monitor ER- dependent transcriptional activation.