Estrogen receptor beta. Potential functional significance of a variety of mRNA isoforms.

Recent cloning of estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) was followed by the discovery of a variety of its isoforms. This review describes the complexity of ERbeta mRNAs in various species for which most data have been gathered so far. The most surprising finding is the great variation in isoform structure among various mammalian species. This may reflect either the fact that only a very limited number of isoforms have been described so far or between-species specificity, especially as common elements in closely related species could still be noted. Isoform variations, as detected mainly at the mRNA sequence level, should result in profound functional differences at the level of proteins as already shown in selected cases. Thus, it is proposed that the diversity of ERbeta isoforms implies a functional role of this phenomenon in cellular physiology and pathology of estrogen response.