Regulation of Postnatal Lung Development and Homeostasis by Estrogen Receptor β

• DOI: 10.1128/mcb.23.23.8542-8552.2003
• Publication Date: 2003-11-12T02:03:12Z
• Authors: Cesare Patrone; Tobias N. Cassel; Katarina Pettersson; Yun-Shang Piao; Guojun Cheng; Paolo Ciana; Adriana Maggi; Margaret Warner; Jan-Åke Gustafsson; Magnus Nord
• Keywords: Homeostasis

Estrogens have well-documented effects on lung development and physiology. However, the classical estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) is undetectable in lung, this has left many unanswered questions about mechanism of action organ. Here we show, both vivo vitro, that ERbeta abundantly expressed biologically active lung. Comparisons lungs from wild-type mice with an inactivated gene (ERbeta(-/-)) revealed decreased numbers alveoli adult female ERbeta(-/-) findings suggesting deficient alveolar formation as well evidence surfactant accumulation. Platelet-derived growth factor A (PDGF-A) granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating (GM-CSF), key regulators homeostasis, respectively, were mice, direct transcriptional regulation these genes by was demonstrated. This suggests estrogens act via to modify PDGF-A GM-CSF expression. These results provide a potential molecular for gender differences structure observed establish previously unknown regulator postnatal homeostasis.