[Estrogen receptors and the mammary gland]

For several decades it has been known that steroid hormones, estrogen and progesterone, regulate some genes involved in the growth, proliferation and differentiation of the mammary-gland in animals and humans. In the last years, the presence or absence of the nuclear estrogen receptor has been used by clinicians as a marker for tumor malignancy, as a prognostic index or as an important parameter for hormonal therapy with anti-estrogenic compounds of some hormone-dependent breast cancers. This review shows some advances in the knowledge of the structure, function, molecular mechanisms of estrogenic activity, and interaction with proteins like protooncogenes and growth factors. Also, we refer to the role of the estrogen receptor in the physiophatology of breast cancer.