Endocrine Abstracts

In the pituitary, estrogens regulate several cell functions via the activation of membrane-associated estrogen receptors (mERs). We have previously reported that both 17β-estradiol (E2) and membrane-impermeable E2-BSA induce rapid apoptotic actions in anterior pituitary (AP) cells, lactotropes and somatotropes through the activation of mERs.In the present study, we investigated the involvement of mERα in the apoptotic action of E2 in...

Our previous results demonstrate that estrogens increase the expression of death receptors TNFRI and Fas in the anterior pituitary and sensitize anterior pituitary cells to pro-apoptotic factors. c-FLIP is a protein that interacts with procaspases 8 and 10 modulating death receptor activity. In normal tissues, two isoforms of c-FLIP have been identified, the short isoform (c-FLIPs) and the long one (c-FLIPL). c-FLIPs has an anti-apoptotic action whereas c-FLIPL has either anti...