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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

estrogen responsive genes, breast cancer, reproductive maturation

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

Abstract

Estrogen plays a role in the reproductive maturation of females, including breast development. It is also known that estrogen affects the development of malignant breast tumors. Estrogen works by binding to specific estrogen receptors found in the cytoplasm or near the nuclear membrane. Once bound to estrogen, these receptors diffuse into the nucleus where they bind to specific DNA sequences called estrogen-response elements. They then regulate the expression of specific genes. There are two types of estrogen receptors (ER): ERα and ERβ. Only ERα has been observed to play a role in breast cancer development. Dr. Chin-Yo Lin and associates used large-scale microarray experiments to characterize the specific genes regulated by ERα in breast tumor cells. Out of 19,000 genes, 137 were observed to be either inhibited or activated by ERα.

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