The following is a summary of “Estrogen receptors differentially modifies lamellipodial and focal adhesion dynamics in airway smooth muscle cell migration,” published in the December 2023 issue of Endocrinology by Ambhore, et al.
Signaling through steroid hormones, especially estrogen, changes the way airways change strangely. In earlier research, researchers showed that 17β-estradiol (E2) has different effects on estrogen receptors (ERs: α and β) when it comes to controlling the growth of airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells and the production of extracellular matrix (ECM). However, the role of ERs and their signals in ASM movement is unknown. For a study, researchers sought to look at how ERα vs. ERβ impacts the movement of human ASM cells caused by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and the processes at play.
They used Lionheart-FX automatic imaging and transwell assays to track cell migration. They discovered that turning on different ERs had different impacts on ASM cells moving in response to PDGF. Activating ERβ with drugs or shRNA decreased ERα levels, and activating ERβ alone stopped cells from migrating in response to PDGF. Also, activating a particular ERβ showed that lowering the F/G-actin ratio stopped actin polymerization. They used Zeiss confocal microscopy and a three-dimensional algorithmic ZEN-image analysis to show that ERβ decreased the levels of neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP) and actin-related proteins-2/3 (Arp2/3) complex, which stopped actin-branching and lamellipodia from forming.
Activating ERβ also makes it less likely for actin-binding proteins (vinculin and paxillin) to gather at the leading edge of ASM cells. Actin and lamellipodial kinetics don’t change much when cells are treated with E2 or ERα agonists. Overall, the results showed how vital ERβ activation is for controlling the dynamics of lamellipodial and focal adhesions to control the movement of ASM cells and could be a new way to stop airway remodeling.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0303720723002381
