Anticancer or carcinogenic? The role of estrogen receptor β in breast cancer progression.

Kang Shen, Huiguang Yu, Baohua Xie, Qiuyu Meng, Chune Dong, Kun Shen, Hai-Bing Zhou

Journal: Pharmacology & therapeutics 2023;242():108350

PMID: 36690079

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

Estrogen receptor β (ERβ) is closely related to breast cancer (BC) progression. Traditional concepts regard ERβ as a tumor suppressor. As studies show the carcinogenic effect of ERβ, some people have come to a new conclusion that ERβ serves as a tumor suppressor in estrogen receptor α (ERα)-positive breast cancer, while it is a carcinogen in ERα-negative breast cancer. However, we re-examine the role of ERβ and find this conclusion to be misleading based on the last decade's research. A large number of studies have shown that ERβ plays an anticancer role in both ERα-positive and ERα-negative breast cancers, and its carcinogenicity does not depend solely on the presence of ERα. Herein, we review the anticancer and oncogenic effects of ERβ on breast cancer progression in the past ten years, discuss the mechanism respectively, analyze the main reasons for the inconsistency and update ERβ selective ligand library. We believe a detailed and continuously updated review will help correct the one-sided understanding of ERβ, promoting ERβ-targeted breast cancer therapy.

Address: Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.; Key Laboratory of Pollution Exposure and Health Intervention of Zhejiang Province, Interdisciplinary Research Academy (IRA), Zhejiang Shuren University, Hangzhou 310015, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China; Frontier Science Center for Immunology and Metabolism, State Key Laboratory of Virology, Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery (MOE) and Hubei Province Engineering and Technology Research Center for Fluorinated Pharmaceuticals, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China; State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan 430062, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2023.108350

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MeSH Terms: Female, Humans, Breast Neoplasms, Carcinogenesis, Carcinogens, Estrogen Receptor alpha, Estrogen Receptor beta, Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms