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Cell Signaling

ISSN: 2837-8253

Commentary Open Access
Volume 1 | Issue 1 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.46439/signaling.1.017

Commentary: Role of estrogen receptor β in kidney disease

Wen Su1, Rong Cao2, Qijun Wan2, Hui-yao Lan3,*
  • 1Department of Pathophysiology, Shenzhen University Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
  • 2Department of Nephrology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, the Second People's Hospital of Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518035, China
  • 3Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
+ Affiliations - Affiliations

Corresponding Author

 Hui-yao Lan, hylan@cuhk.edu.hk

Received Date: August 31, 2023

Accepted Date: November 03, 2023

Citation:

Su W, Cao R, Wan Q, Lan H. Commentary: Role of estrogen receptor β in kidney disease. Cell Signal. 2023;1(1):81-84.


Copyright: © 2023 Su W, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Recent studies have shed light on the pivotal roles of estrogen in various pathophysiological processes related to kidney diseases. However, the precise mechanisms governing the estrogen actions remain enigmatic. The downstream impacts of estrogen primarily hinge on estrogen receptors (ERs), namely ERα (NR3A1) and ERβ (NR3A2). Building upon our previous finding that ERβ participates in subcutaneous adipose tissue browning in female mice, our recent study found that ERβ functions to protect kidney from progressive renal fibrosis by inactivating transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/Smad3 signaling. In the normal kidney, ERβ is highly expressed by proximal tubular epithelial cells but it is lost when kidney becomes fibrotic. In contrast, activation of ERβ inhibits kidney fibrosis. Mechanistically, we uncovered that ERβ can bind to Smad3, thereby transcriptionally downregulating Smad3 and inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad3-mediated renal fibrosis. Thus, ERβ is protective in renal fibrosis and may have therapeutic potential for chronic kidney disease.

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