Title:Endocrine Disruptor Agent Nonyl Phenol Exerts An Estrogen-like Transcriptional Activity on Estrogen Receptor Positive Breast Cancer Cells
Volume: 21
Issue: 5
Author(s): A.A. Amaro, A.I. Esposito, V. Mirisola, A. Mehilli, C. Rosano, D.M. Noonan, A. Albini, U. Pfeffer and G. Angelini
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Nonylphenol (NP), endocrine disruptor (ED), estrogen receptor (ER), gene expression profile, environment, breast
cancer.
Abstract: Several substances widely dispersed in the environment including hormones, industrial by-products and pollutants
exert hormone like activity affecting steroid-responsive physiological systems. These compounds, named endocrine
disruptors, are suspected to affect the mammalian reproductive system. However it is still unclear whether these substances
are able to elicit estrogen like activity at the low concentrations encountered in the environment. Here we compare
the effects of the endocrine disruptor nonylphenol with the effects elicited by 17-β-estradiol on gene transcription in the
human breast cancer cell line MCF7. The correlation of the nonylphenol induced gene expression alterations with a reference
profile of estradiol treated cells shows that nonylphenol at a concentration of 100 nM exerts a significant effect on
estrogen responsive gene transcription in MCF7 cells. Most of the genes regulated by 17-β-estradiol respond to the nonylphenol
in the same direction though to a much lesser extent. Molecular modeling of the potential interaction of nonylphenol
with the estrogen receptor α shows that nonylphenol is likely to bind to the estrogen receptor α.