estrogen receptors

Finding ways to boost the brain's estrogen receptors may be an alternative to adding estrogen to the body in efforts to improve cognition in postmenopausal women and younger women with low estrogen levels, according to neuroscientists at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute.

(University of Florida) Finding ways to boost the brain's estrogen receptors may be an alternative to adding estrogen to the body in efforts to improve cognition in postmenopausal women and younger women with low estrogen levels, according to neuroscientists at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute.

A tiny modification called methylation on estrogen receptors prolongs the life of these growth-driving molecules in breast cancer cells.

Most breast cancers contain estrogen receptors, which enable them to grow in the presence of the hormone estrogen.

Their presence can determine whether tumors will respond to the estrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen. The finding will help researchers sort out how mutations change the estrogen receptor's function and allow some breast cancers to resist tamoxifen.