Gustafsson Jan-Ake
Department of Medical Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge University Hospital, S-141 86 Huddinge, Sweden.
Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2003 Sep;24(9):479-85. doi: 10.1016/S0165-6147(03)00229-3.
The discovery of the second estrogen receptor (ER) in 1995 surprised many endocrinologists and resulted in some scepticism regarding its physiological importance. However, 8 years later, it is clear that the multiple actions of estrogen in the body are mediated by two receptors that, although similar, are distinct gene products with non-overlapping functions. This clear delineation of the functions of the two receptors in such a short time was made possible by the development of ER alpha and ER beta knockout mice. The distinct patterns of tissue distribution of these two receptors has heightened interest in novel estrogen targets in the body and has led to awareness of new sites for pharmacological intervention in diseases such as depression, prostate dysfunction, leukaemia, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.
1995年第二种雌激素受体（ER）的发现令许多内分泌学家感到惊讶，并引发了对其生理重要性的一些怀疑。然而，8年后，很明显雌激素在体内的多种作用是由两种受体介导的，这两种受体虽然相似，但却是具有非重叠功能的不同基因产物。ERα和ERβ基因敲除小鼠的培育使得在如此短的时间内明确这两种受体的功能成为可能。这两种受体不同的组织分布模式激发了人们对体内新的雌激素靶点的兴趣，并使人们意识到在抑郁症、前列腺功能障碍、白血病、炎症性肠病和结肠癌等疾病中进行药物干预的新位点。
