Estrogen receptor β plays a protective role in zearalenone-induced oxidative stress in normal prostate epithelial cells

ERβ and NFκB—Modulators of Zearalenone-Induced Oxidative Stress in Human Prostate Cancer Cells

“…We therefore wondered whether a similar effect would also be observed in PCa cells. The results of this study showed that the role of ERβ in ZEA-induced oxidative stress is different, as observed previously [12]. ERβ per se seems to play a nonsignificant role in ZEA-induced oxidative stress, or a significant one in the case of cell cycle regulation in two different PCa cell lines.…”

“…In that case, we postulate that ZEA via binding to different ERs might trigger a contradictory effect in cells, and we decided to verify this hypothesis. Mak et al reported that ERβ in PCa regulates the expression of NFKB via HIF-1α [4], whereas our observations showed that ZEA influences the expression of HIF-1α [12]. Thus, it is probable that both ERβ and NFKB might play a role in ZEA-induced oxidative stress.…”

“…ERβ is believed to be antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic, although its effect in PCa cells seems to be more sophisticated [27], based on the reports showing that ERβ2 and ERβ5 isoforms play a tumor-promoting role [28]. We previously observed that ERβ in normal prostate epithelial cells plays a protective role in ZEA-induced oxidative stress [12]. We therefore wondered whether a similar effect would also be observed in PCa cells.…”

“…However, the results do not correlate with ROS production and DNA damage. Based on this, we assumed that the role of ERβ in ZEA-induced oxidative stress in PCa cells is different, compared to prostate epithelial cells [12], which provides interesting information for the field of mycotoxin research. On the other hand, we observed that the simultaneous blocking of ERβ and NFKB increases ZEA-induced oxidative stress in PCa cells.…”

“…Our previous results showed that ZEA-induced oxidative stress might be associated with changes in the expression of the genes responsible for the oxidative stress response [12]. In that case, the expression of NRF2, HMOX1 and IKKβ, due to its documented role in oxidative stress (NFΚB signaling pathway), and ERβ was evaluated ( Figure 5A).…”