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Review
. 2019 Nov 19;8(11):1463.
doi: 10.3390/cells8111463.

Estrogen Receptors and Melanoma: A Review

Emi Dika  1 , Annalisa Patrizi  1 , Martina Lambertini  1 , Nicholas Manuelpillai  1 , Michelangelo Fiorentino  2 , Annalisa Altimari  3 , Manuela Ferracin  2 , Mattia Lauriola  4 , Enrica Fabbri  2 , Elena Campione  5 , Giulia Veronesi  1 , Federica Scarfì  1
Affiliations
Review

Estrogen Receptors and Melanoma: A Review

Emi Dika et al. Cells. .

Abstract

In the last three decades cutaneous melanoma has been widely investigated as a steroid hormone-sensitive cancer. Following this hypothesis, many epidemiological studies have investigated the relationship between estrogens and melanoma. No evidence to date has supported this association due to the great complexity of genetic, external and environmental factors underlying the development of this cancer. Molecular mechanisms through which estrogen and their receptor exert a role in melanoma genesis are still under investigation with new studies increasingly focusing on the discovery of new molecular targets for therapeutic treatments.

Keywords: estrogens; melanoma; woman.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The main estrogen receptors signaling pathways: in the genomic pathway, classic estrogen receptors (ER α and β) act as transcription factors upon homo- or heterodimers. ER α promotes DNA transcription, while ERβ inhibits it. In the non-genomic pathway ERs act as membrane receptors and they lead to increased activity of the RAS/BRAF/MEK axis. Figure 1 demonstrates cross-talk with EGFR receptor pathway. The G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) acts via intracellular cAMP-protein kinase (PK) and cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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