Negative regulation of N-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion by the estrogen receptor signaling pathway in rat pituitary GH3 cells

The ability of the estrogen receptor signaling pathway to regulate cell-cell adhesion, and N-cadherin and β-catenin expression was examined in rat somatolactotropic GH3 cells cultured in serum-free, phenol red-free medium (SFM). Estradiol-17β (E2) promoted a nonadherent phenotype, whereas the steroidal anti-estrogen, ICI 182,780, induced the formation of tightly adherent aggregates of cells. The antiestrogen-induced cell-cell adhesion was associated with the presence of adherens junctions, and was Ca2+-dependent. E2 reduced surface N-cadherin protein to barely detectable levels, whereas ICI 182,780-treated cells displayed abundant punctate immunoreactive N-cadherin. Antiestrogen failed to induce adhesion in the presence of a blocking antibody to N-cadherin. ICI 182,780 increased the protein levels for N-cadherin and the cadherin-binding protein, β-catenin, by twofold over SFM controls of E2-treated samples. ICI 182,780 also increased the mRNA levels for N-cadherin and β-catenin by two- to fivefold. In GH3 cells cultured in growth medium, ICI 182,780 increased N-cadherin and β-catenin levels by twofold over untreated controls, and inhibited cell proliferation by 53%. These results provide the first demonstration of the regulation of N-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion by the estrogen receptor (ER) signaling pathway in pituitary somatolactotrophs through the coordinate regulation of N-cadherin and β-catenin expression. The inverse relationship between ICI 182,780-induced adhesion and proliferation raises the possibility that these two processes are functionally related.