Estrogen-dependent gene expression

Estrogen-dependent gene expression Estrogens mediate their transcriptional effects through interaction with the estrogen receptors, ESR1 (also known as ER alpha) and ESR2 (ER beta). ESR1 and ESR2 share overlapping but distinct functions, with ESR1 playing the primary role in transcriptional activation in most cell types (Hah and Krauss, 2014; Haldosén et al, 2014. The receptors function as ligand-dependent dimers and can activate target genes either through direct binding to an estrogen responsive element (ERE) in the target gene promoter, or indirectly through interaction with another DNA-binding protein such as RUNX1, SP1, AP1 or NF-kappa beta (reviewed in Bai and Gust, 2009; Hah and Krause, 2014). Binding of estrogen receptors to the DNA promotes the assembly of higher order transcriptional complexes containing methyltransferases, histone acetyltransferases and other transcriptional activators, which promote transcription by establishing active chromatin marks and by recruiting general transcription factors and RNA polymerase II. ESR1- and estrogen-dependent recruitment of up to hundreds of coregulators has been demonstrated by varied co-immunoprecipitation and proteomic approaches (Kittler et al, 2013; Mohammed et al, 2013; Foulds et al, 2013; Mohammed et al, 2015; Liu et al, 2014; reviewed in Magnani and Lupien, 2014; Arnal, 2017). In some circumstances, ligand-bound receptors can also promote the assembly of a repression complex at a target gene, and in some cases, heterodimers of ESR1 and ESR2 serve as repressors of ESR1-mediated target gene activation (reviewed in Hah and Kraus, 2014; Arnal et al, 2017). Phosphorylation of the estrogen receptor also modulates its activity, and provides cross-talk between nuclear estrogen-dependent signaling and non-genomic estrogen signaling from the plasma membrane (reviewed in Anbalagan and Rowan, 2015; Halodsèn et al, 2014; Schwartz et al, 2016)

A number of recent genome wide studies highlight the breadth of the transcriptional response to estrogen. The number of predicted estrogen-dependent target genes ranges from a couple of hundred (based on microarray studies) to upwards of 10000, based on ChIP-chip or ChIP-seq (Cheung and Kraus, 2010; Kinnis and Kraus, 2008; Lin et al, 2004; Welboren et al, 2009; Ikeda et al, 2015; Lin et al, 2007; Carroll et al, 2006). Many of these predicted sites may not represent transcriptionally productive binding events, however. A study examining ESR1 binding by ChIP-seq in 20 primary breast cancers identified a core of 484 ESR-binding events that were conserved in at least 75% of ER+ tumors, which may represent a more realistic estimate (Ross-Innes et al, 2012). These studies also highlight the long-range effect of estrogen receptor-binding, with distal enhancer or promoter elements regulating the expression of many target genes, often through looping or other higher order chromatin structures (Kittler et al, 2013; reviewed in Dietz and Carroll, 2008; Liu and Cheung, 2014; Magnani and Lupien, 2014). Transcription from a number of estrogen-responsive target genes also appears to be primed by the binding of pioneering transcription factors such as FOXA1, GATA3, PBX1 among others. These factors bind to heterochromatin by virtue of their winged helix domains and promote chromatin opening, allowing subsequent recruitment of other transcription factors (reviewed in Zaret and Carroll, 2011; Fiorito et al, 2013; Arnal et al, 2017; Magnani et al, 2011)