Antitumoral effect of estrogen receptor beta isoforms in ovarian cancer cells

Introduction: Estrogen receptor (ER) β gene is known for its different transcript variants resulting from alternative splicing. The so far identified ERβ splice variants are characterized by alternative 3´-exons (ERβ2, ERβ3, ERβ4, ERβ5) or by deletion of single or multiple exons (e.g. ERβD2, ERbD5/6). We recently identified two new ERβ splice variants in MDA-MD-231 breast cancer cells, namely ERβD125 and ERβD1256. The purpose of this study was to examine the function of the novel ERβ isoforms in SK-OV-3 ovarian cancer cells. Methods: SK-OV-3 ovarian cancer cells were transfected with pTARGET mammalian expression…