Clinical implication of estrogen-related receptor (ERR) expression in ovarian cancers

Abstract

The expression of estrogen receptor (ER)alpha and ERbeta mRNAs did not show any specific manner according to clinical backgrounds in ovarian cancers. On the other hand, the levels of estrogen-related receptor (ERR)alpha mRNA increased with clinical stages regardless of histopathological types in ovarian cancers. However, ERRbeta and ERRgamma mRNA levels were extremely low to determine reliably. ERRalpha can bind to the steroid receptor coactivator family without any ligands, and drive transcription activity of the target genes. The manner of ERR and ER gene expressions might show an independent usage of common cofactors. It is speculated that the up regulation of ERRalpha might be related to advancement of ovarian cancers regardless of plausible interaction via cofactors regulated by ERs. Although ERRalpha is not directly related to growth of ovarian cancer, ERRalpha is a candidate for prognostic factors for ovarian cancer.