Tyrosine kinase/p21(ras)/MAP-kinase pathway activation by estradiol-receptor complex in MCF-7 cells

The mechanism by which estradiol acts on cell multiplication is still unclear, Under conditions of estradiol-dependent growth, estradiol treatment of human mammary cancer MCF-7 cells triggers rapid and transient activation of the mitogen-activated (MAP) kinases, erk-1 and erk-2, increases the active form of p21(ras), tyrosine phosphorylation of Shc and p190 protein and induces association of p190 to p21(ras)-GAP, Both Shc and p190 are substrates of activated src and once phosphorylated, they interact with other proteins and upregulate p21(ras), Estradiol activates the tyrosine kinase/p21(ras)/MAP-kinase pathway in MCF-7 cells with kinetics which are similar to those of peptide mitogens, It is only after introduction of the human wild-type 67 kDa estradiol receptor cDNA that Cos cells become estradiol-responsive in terms of erk-2 activity, This finding, together with the inhibition by the pure anti-estrogen ICI 182 780 of the stimulatory effect of estradiol on each step of the pathway in MCF-7 cells proves that the classic estradiol receptor is responsible for the transduction pathway activation, Transfection experiments of Cos cells with the estradiol receptor cDNA and in vitro experiments with c-src show that the estradiol receptor activates c-src and this activation requires occupancy of the receptor by hormone. Our experiments suggest that c-src is an initial and integral part of the signaling events mediated by the estradiol receptor.