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Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2000, p. 4626-4634, Vol. 20, No. 13
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular
Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,
Minnesota 55455,1 and Creative
BioMolecules, Hopkinton, Massachusetts 017482
Received 30 November 1999/Returned for modification 17 January
2000/Accepted 20 March 2000
Interactions between estrogen and growth factor signaling pathways
at the level of gene expression play important roles in the function of
reproductive tissues. For example, estrogen regulates transforming
growth factor beta (TGF
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Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Estrogen Opposes the Apoptotic Effects of Bone Morphogenetic
Protein 7 on Tissue Remodeling
) in the uterus during the proliferative
phase of the mammalian reproductive cycle. Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7), a member of the TGF
superfamily, is also involved in the
development and function of reproductive tissues. However, relatively
few studies have addressed the expression of BMP-7 in reproductive
tissues, and the role of BMP-7 remains unclear. As part of an ongoing
effort to understand how estrogen represses gene expression and to
study its interactions with other signaling pathways, chick BMP-7
(cBMP-7) was cloned. cBMP-7 mRNA levels are repressed threefold within
8 h following estrogen treatment in the chick oviduct, an
extremely estrogen-responsive reproductive tissue. This regulation
occurs at the transcriptional level. Estrogen has a protective role in
many tissues, and withdrawal from estrogen often leads to tissue
regression; however, the mechanisms mediating regression of the oviduct
remain unknown. Terminal transferase-mediated end-labeling and DNA
laddering assays demonstrated that regression of the oviduct
during estrogen withdrawal involves apoptosis, which is a novel
observation. cBMP-7 mRNA levels during estrogen withdrawal increase
concurrently with the apoptotic index of the oviduct. Furthermore,
addition of purified BMP-7 induces apoptosis in primary oviduct cells.
This report demonstrates that the function of BMP-7 in the oviduct
involves the induction of apoptosis and that estrogen plays an
important role in opposing this function.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of
Minnesota, 6-155 Jackson Hall, 321 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN
55455. Phone: (612) 624-9637. Fax: (612) 625-2163. E-mail:
sande001{at}tc.umn.edu.
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