Monoclonal antibodies localize oestrogen receptor in the nuclei of target cells.

Although it is widely accepted that specific intracellular receptor proteins are involved in the oestrogenic regulation of gene expression and growth in reproductive tissues, the precise nature of the regulation is poorly understood. Among the unresolved issues are the distribution and dynamics of the oestrogen receptor protein (oestrophilin) in target tissues in the presence and absence of oestrogens and antioestrogens. The use of radiolabelled and unlabelled receptor ligands to detect and measure oestrogen receptors in tissues has been complicated by the presence of other intracellular steroid-binding proteins and by the low concentration of receptors in responsive tissues. We report here the development of an immunocytochemical procedure that is suitable for localizing oestrophilin directly in frozen tissue sections or cells from human and several non-human sources. When monoclonal antibodies to oestrophilin were used to detect receptor in various oestrogen-sensitive tissues, specific staining was confined to the nucleus of all stained cells, suggesting that both cytosol and nuclear forms of the receptor protein may reside in the nuclear compartment.