Estrogen and progesterone receptors: an overview from the year 2000

Our current understanding of the steroid/thyroid superfamily of ligand-dependent nuclear transcription factors now involves specific domains for steroid ligand binding, receptor homo- and heterodimer formation, the association of transcription mediators or adaptors that activate, repress, or integrate competing influences, interaction with the hormone response element, transcription modulation based on the components of the transcriptional complex, and intracellular trafficking. Various ligands, including selective hormone receptor modulators, interact with transcriptional mediators in both ligand- and tissue-specific manners, thus multiplying the variety and complexity of interactions substantially. Transcriptional mediators, selective hormone receptor modulators, and varying isoforms of nuclear receptors and their tissue-specific interactions will be a major focus of research in the future. This symposium assembles many of the investigators presently elucidating our understanding of nuclear receptors as we move into the next millennium.