Steroid receptors at the nexus of transcriptional regulation

During the past few years, our understanding of nuclear receptor action has dramatically improved as a result of the identification and functional analysis of co-regulators such as factors involved in chromatin remodeling, transcription intermediary factors (co-repressors and co-activators), and direct interactions with the basal transcriptional machinery. Furthermore, the elucidation of the crystal structures of the empty ligand-binding domains of the nuclear receptor and of complexes formed by the nuclear receptor's ligand-binding domain bound to agonists and antagonists has contributed significantly to our understanding of the early events of nuclear receptor action. However, the picture of hormone- and hormone receptor-mediated mechanisms of gene regulation remain incomplete and extremely complicated when one also considers the "nontraditional" interactions of hormone-activated nuclear receptors, for example, interactions between the activated steroid receptors and components of the chromatin/nuclear matrix; and finally the nongenomic effects that steroid hormones can exhibit with other signaling pathways. In this prospectus on steroid receptors, we discuss the implications of various steroid hormone and nuclear receptor interactions and potential future directions of investigation.