Non-nuclear estrogen receptor signaling in the endothelium

In addition to the classical function of estrogen receptors (ER) as transcription factors, evidence continues to accumulate that they mediate non-nuclear processes in numerous cell types, including the endothelium, in which they activate endothelial NO synthase. Non-nuclear ER signaling entails unique post-translational modifications and protein-protein interactions of the receptor with adaptor molecules, kinases, and G proteins. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies in mice using an estrogen-dendrimer conjugate that is excluded from the nucleus indicate that non-nuclear ER activation underlies the migration and growth responses of endothelial cells to estrogen but not the growth responses of endometrial or breast cancer cells to the hormone. In this minireview, the features of ERα and protein-protein interactions that enable it to invoke extranuclear signaling in the endothelium and the consequences of that signaling are discussed.