Biological role of estrogen receptor β in salivary gland adenocarcinoma cells

Purpose: This study is intended to investigate the biological role of estrogen receptor (ER) nongenomic signaling in salivary gland adenocarcinoma cells that predominantly express ERβ. Experimental Design: Salivary gland adenocarcinoma cell lines HSG and HSY were used to study the effect of diarylpropionitrile and estrogen on the nongenomic signaling of ERβ, cytoskeletal remodeling, and cell motility. Results: We found that diarylpropionitrile and estrogen triggered rapid activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK), Src, and focal adhesion kinase signaling pathways. Estrogen stimulation also induced long cytoplasmic extensions, filopodia formation, and abnormal outgrowths in both HSG and HSY cells. We further observed that ligand-induced migration of these cells was blocked by the pure antiestrogen ICI 182780 and the mitogen-activated protein/ERK kinase inhibitor PD98059, indicating that estrogen-induced cell migration is mediated by the activation of ERβ nongenomic signaling. Conclusion: These results clearly showed that ERβ nongenomic signaling is active in salivary gland cells and has a biological role in migration, presumably via the stimulation of ERK1/2. In future, the findings of this study might have clinical importance as several ERβ-selective agonists are currently being available, and these could potentially be used for therapeutic targeting of ERβ-positive salivary tumors.