Functional Genomics approaches to study Nuclear Receptor Signaling

Estrogens play pivotal roles in regulating the function of many tissues and organs and estrogen signalling has been associated with a number of diseases, including breast and uterine cancer, disorders of lipid metabolism, cardiovascular diseases, autoimmune inflammatory diseases and osteoporosis. Estrogens exert their effects via their intracellular receptors, estrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERß). In the presence of ligands (natural or synthetic), both ERα and ERß are activated and as dimers (homodimers or heterodimers) interact with specific DNA sequences. Activated ERs interact with other nuclear proteins, such as steroid receptor coregulators altering the transcription rates of responsive genes.
Our main research interest is the effect of estrogens on various systems and tissues, especially the reproductive system, breast tissue and liver. Our studies concern the molecular mechanism of estrogen receptor (ERα and ERß) action in cell physiology, mainly the role of heterodimerization (α/ß) or homodimerization (α/α, ß/ß) in estrogen signalling. Additionally, one of our main interests is the screening of synthetic and natural compounds for their estrogenic/antiestrogenic activities on various systems, such as breast cancer cells, hepatocytes, osteoblasts, endometrial cells and endothelial cells using molecular and cellular biology techniques.

Recent publications:
• Papoutsi Z, Zhao C, Putnik M, Gustafsson JA, Dahlman-Wright K. Binding of estrogen receptor alpha/beta heterodimers to chromatin in MCF-7 cells. J Mol Endocrinol. 2009 Aug;43(2):65-72.
• Strati A, Papoutsi Z, Lianidou E, Moutsatsou P. Effect of ellagic acid on the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) alpha+beta+ transcript in estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Clin Biochem. 2009 Jun 6. [Epub ahead of print]
• Papoutsi Z, Kassi E, Chinou I, Halabalaki M, Skaltsounis LA, Moutsatsou P. Walnut extract (Juglans regia L.) and its component ellagic acid exhibit anti-inflammatory activity in human aorta endothelial cells and osteoblastic activity in the cell line KS483. Br J Nutr. 2008 Apr; 99(4):715-22.
• Papoutsi Z, Kassi E, Fokialakis N, Mitakou S, Lambrinidis G, Mikros E, Moutsatsou P. Deoxybenzoins are novel potent selective estrogen receptor modulators. Steroids. 2007 Sep; 72(9-10):693-704.

03-Aug-2009