Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Systems Biology of Metabolic Regulation by Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Breast Cancer
Published on: March 17, 2016
[The central mechanism for estrogen receptor to mediate nutrients and energy metabolism]
Qing-Hong Zhang1, Yong-Ming Yao
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Burns Institute, First Hospital Affiliated to the Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100048, China.
Abstract:
Estrogen is demonstrated to be involved in the development and progress of diabetes mellitus. Recently studies have indicated that estrogen receptor (ER) play a crucial role in the modulation of nutrients and energy metabolism. Estrogen could regulate the expressions of anorexia and hyperphagic neuropeptide in the hypothalamus by genomic actions via nuclear ER, or via membrane ER linking to the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K)/Akt and ERK1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. The mice with hypothalamic ERalpha silencing exhibited the features of typical metabolic syndrome, suggesting the role of ERalpha in peripheral nutrient metabolism. Further studies showed that the central ERalpha interacts with both insulin and leptin signaling pathways. The elucidation of the mechanism of central ER in energy balance and nutrient metabolism would provide the novel strategy to overcome the abnormality of glucose metabolism and energy imbalance induced by estrogen disorder in clinical settings.
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