Raloxifene upregulated mesangial cell MMP-2 activity via ER-β through transcriptional regulation.

Raloxifene, a second-generation selective estrogen receptor modulator, exerts estrogen-like effects in specific tissues. In this present study, we examined the effect of raloxifene on mesangial cell matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. Raloxifene increased the MMP-2 level in a dose-dependent and receptor-mediated manner. An antibody against estrogen receptor-β (ER-β) blocked the effect of raloxifene on MMP-2 expression, suggesting that the effect of raloxifene on MMP-2 activity was mediated by ER-β. In addition, the transcription factor AP-2, that plays an important role in MMP-2 gene transcription, was overexpressed under raloxifene simulation. The effect of MMP-2 was blocked by a selective inhibitor of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK/MAPK) pathway, PD98059. Our results suggested that raloxifene-induced MMP-2 activity increases function through ERK/MAPK signaling via AP-2. In addition, we also found that the effect of raloxifene on MMP-2 expression was mediated via its binding to ER-β. However, at this stage of our investigation, (i) we could only show that both the binding to ER-β and the activation of the ERK/MAPK pathway impacted MMP-2 expression and (ii) we were unable to establish a relationship between ER-β binding and ERK/MAPK pathway activation.