Estrogen receptor α (ERα) drives more than 70 percent of breast cancers. The new research, to be published Sept. 23, 2021, in Cell, discovered that in addition to its well-known activity in the nucleus, it can also help malignant cells overcome innate anti-cancer mechanisms and develop resistance to treatment.

In the nucleus, ERα regulates the conversion of DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA), a process known as transcription. Once formed, the mRNA strand travels from the nucleus into the cytoplasm, where it instructs ribosomes to make protein, a process known as translation. To their surprise, the researchers found that ERα plays a role in this process as well by binding to the newly formed mRNA.

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