Genome and Hormones: Gender Differences in Physiology: Selected Contribution: Estrogen receptor-alpha gene transfer inhibits proliferation and NF-kappa B activation in VSM cells from female rats

• Published in: Journal of applied physiology (1985) 2001-01, Vol.91 (5), p.2400
• Main Authors: Sharma, Ram V, Gurjar, Milind V, Bhalla, Ramesh C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 8750-7587; 1522-1601
• DOI: 10.1152/jappl.2001.91.5.2400

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and The Cardiovascular Center, The University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that hormone replacement therapy with estrogen (E 2 ) or E 2 plus progesterone in postmenopausal women decreases the age-associated risk of cardiovascular disease by 30-50%. Treatment of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells with physiological concentrations of E 2 has been shown to inhibit growth factor-stimulated cell proliferation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that E 2 inhibits the age-associated increase in VSM cell proliferation by inhibiting nuclear factor (NF)- B pathway. We investigated the effects of E 2 treatment and adenovirus-mediated estrogen receptor (ER)- gene transfer on cell proliferation and NF- B activation using VSM cells cultured from 3-mo-old and 24-mo-old Fischer 344 female rats. Our results demonstrate that VSM cell proliferation was significantly increased ( P