Description
In addition to the estrogen responsive element (ERE)-dependent gene expression, E2-ERbeta regulates transcription through functional interactions with transfactors bound to their cognate regulatory elements on DNA, hence the ERE-independent signaling pathway. However, the relative importance of the ERE-independent pathway in E2-ERbeta signaling is unclear. Our studies in infected ER-negative cell models with an ERbeta mutant (ERbetaDBD) that functions exclusively at the ERE-independent pathway demonstrated that genomic responses assessed by microarrays from the ERE-independent pathway to E2-ERbeta are not sufficient to alter cellular growth, death or motility. These findings suggest that the ERE-dependent pathway is the canonical E2-ERbeta signaling in model cell lines.