ABSTRACT
The estrogen receptor is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily of ligand dependent transcription factors. Until recently it was believed that all the actions of estrogen were mediated by a singlze high affinity estrogen receptor (ERα) located within target cell nuclei. However, a second estrogen receptor-(ERβ)-has been identified (Kuiper et al., 1996). Although ERα and ERβ may have unique activities in estrogen responsive tissues, the high degree of amino acid sequence similarity between these two proteins suggests that their general mechanism of action is conserved (Figure 2.1).
* Corresponding author, Tel: 0019196846035, Fax: 0019196817139, E-mail: mcdon016@acpub.duke.edu.
