Protein Information

Name estrogen receptors
Synonyms ER; ERA; ER alpha; ERalpha; ESR; ESR 1; ESR1; ESRA…

Compound Information

Name dieldrin
CAS

Reference List

PubMed Abstract RScore(About this table)
8593856 Soto AM, Sonnenschein C, Chung KL, Fernandez MF, Olea N, Serrano FO: The E-SCREEN assay as a tool to identify estrogens: an update on estrogenic environmental pollutants. Environ Health Perspect. 1995 Oct;103 Suppl 7:113-22.

Among the compounds tested, several "new" estrogens were found; alkylphenols, phthalates, some PCB congeners and hydroxylated PCBs, and the insecticides dieldrin, endosulfan, and toxaphene were estrogenic by the E-SCREEN assay.
In addition, these compounds competed with estradiol for binding to the estrogen receptor and increased the levels of progesterone receptor and pS2 in MCF-7 cells, as expected from estrogen mimics.
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11884232 Andersen HR, Vinggaard AM, Rasmussen TH, Gjermandsen IM, Bonefeld-Jorgensen EC: Effects of currently used pesticides in assays for estrogenicity, androgenicity, and aromatase activity in vitro. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2002 Feb 15;179(1):1-12.

Twenty-four pesticides were tested for interactions with the estrogen receptor (ER) and the androgen receptor (AR) in transactivation assays.
In addition, the metabolite mercaptodimethur sulfoxide, the herbicide tribenuron-methyl, and the organochlorine dieldrin, were included.
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10667634 Arcaro KF, Yang Y, Vakharia DD, Gierthy JF: Toxaphene is antiestrogenic in a human breast-cancer cell assay. J Toxicol Environ Health A. 2000 Feb 11;59(3):197-210.

Toxaphene was also tested for its ability (1) to bind the estrogen receptor (ER) in a competitive binding assay using recombinant human ERalpha (rhER) and in a whole-cell competitive ER binding assay, and (2) to alter the catabolism of E2 in MCF-7 cell cultures.
Results from the MCF-7 focus assay showed: (1) Toxaphene alone was not estrogenic between the concentrations of 0.5 nM and 10 microM, (2) toxaphene in binary combinations with chlordane, dieldrin, or endosulfan (alpha or beta) was not estrogenic, and (3) toxaphene was weakly antiestrogenic (it reduced the number of foci induced by 0.1 nM and 0.01 nM E2).
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11518544 Hoyer AP, Jorgensen T, Rank F, Grandjean P: Organochlorine exposures influence on breast cancer risk and survival according to estrogen receptor status: a Danish cohort-nested case-control study. BMC Cancer. 2001;1:8. Epub 2001 Jul 30.

RESULTS: The observed increased breast cancer risk associated with exposure to dieldrin derived from women who developed an estrogen receptor negative (ERN) tumor (Odds ratio [OR] I vs.
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15589975 Lemaire G, Balaguer P, Michel S, Rahmani R: Activation of retinoic acid receptor-dependent transcription by organochlorine pesticides. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2005 Jan 1;202(1):38-49.


Five organochlorine pesticides, namely, chlordane, dieldrin, aldrin, endrin, and endosulfan, activate human retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-mediated gene transcription via a retinoic acid response element (RARE).
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9075711 Ramamoorthy K, Wang F, Chen IC, Norris JD, McDonnell DP, Leonard LS, Gaido KW, Bocchinfuso WP, Korach KS, Safe S: Estrogenic activity of a dieldrin/toxaphene mixture in the mouse uterus, MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, and yeast-based estrogen receptor assays: no apparent synergism. Endocrinology. 1997 Apr;138(4):1520-7.

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17963131 Ansari RA, Gandy J: Determining the transrepression activity of xenoestrogen on nuclear factor-kappa B in Cos-1 cells by estrogen receptor-alpha. Int J Toxicol. 2007 Sep-Oct;26(5):441-9.

The ability of selected xenoestrogens (methoxychlor [MXC], dieldrin, and o',p'-DDT) to transrepress the NF-kappa B-mediated transcription in Cos-1 cells was evaluated by cotransfection of human estrogen receptor-alpha (hERalpha).
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15081833 Gale WL, Patino R, Maule AG: Interaction of xenobiotics with estrogen receptors alpha and beta and a putative plasma sex hormone-binding globulin from channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2004 May 1;136(3):338-45.

The alkylphenolic compounds (4-octylphenol and 4-nonylphenol) displayed some ability to displace 3H-E2 binding from ERalpha and beta at high concentrations, but dieldrin and atrazine had little binding activity for both ER subtypes and endosulfan for ERbeta.
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15811834 Wozniak AL, Bulayeva NN, Watson CS: Xenoestrogens at picomolar to nanomolar concentrations trigger membrane estrogen receptor-alpha-mediated Ca2+ fluxes and prolactin release in GH3/B6 pituitary tumor cells. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 Apr;113(4):431-9.

We investigated the effects of E2 versus several XEs representing organochlorine pesticides (dieldrin, endosulfan, o',p'-dichlorodiphenylethylene), plastics manufacturing by-products/detergents (nonylphenol, bisphenol A), a phytoestrogen (coumestrol), and a synthetic estrogen (diethylstilbestrol) on the pituitary tumor cell subline GH3/B6/F10, previously selected for expression of high levels of membrane estrogen receptor-alpha.
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11922773 Charles GD, Gennings C, Zacharewski TR, Gollapudi BB, Carney EW: Assessment of interactions of diverse ternary mixtures in an estrogen receptor-alpha reporter assay. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2002 Apr 1;180(1):11-21.

This study used an MCF-7 cell based ER-alpha reporter gene assay to assess chemical interactions within the following ternary mixtures: (1) three synthetic pesticides, methoxychlor (MXC), o,p-DDT, and dieldrin; (2) three polyaromatic hydrocarbons, benzo [a] pyrene (BAP), 1,2-benzanthracene (BENZ), and chrysene (CHRY); and (3) an endogenous estrogen, [17beta-estradiol, (E (2))]; a phytoestrogen, genistein (GEN); and a synthetic estrogen, o,p-DDT.
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9407589 Wade MG, Desaulniers D, Leingartner K, Foster WG: Interactions between endosulfan and dieldrin on estrogen-mediated processes in vitro and in vivo. Reprod Toxicol. 1997 Nov-Dec;11(6):791-8.

Recent in vitro data suggest that the interaction between some weakly estrogenic organochlorines, dieldrin, endosulfan, toxaphene, and chlordane, causes a synergistic increase in their estrogenic potency, an effect due to joint action on estrogen receptors (ER).
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17174995 Watson CS, Bulayeva NN, Wozniak AL, Alyea RA: Xenoestrogens are potent activators of nongenomic estrogenic responses. Steroids. 2007 Feb;72(2):124-34. Epub 2006 Dec 18.

Both estradiol (E (2)) and compounds representing various classes of xenoestrogens (diethylstilbestrol, coumestrol, bisphenol A, DDE, nonylphenol, endosulfan, and dieldrin) act via a membrane version of the estrogen receptor-alpha on pituitary cells, and can provoke Ca (2+) influx via L-type channels, leading to prolactin (PRL) secretion.
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15261991 Grunfeld HT, Bonefeld-Jorgensen EC: Effect of in vitro estrogenic pesticides on human oestrogen receptor alpha and beta mRNA levels. Toxicol Lett. 2004 Aug 1;151(3):467-80.

After co-exposure with E2, all the tested pesticides counteracted the E2-induced decrease of the ERalpha mRNA level, but only significantly for prochloraz, dieldrin, and tolchlofos-methyl.
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19479021 Alyea RA, Watson CS: Differential regulation of dopamine transporter function and location by low concentrations of environmental estrogens and 17beta-estradiol. Environ Health Perspect. 2009 May;117(5):778-83. Epub 2009 Jan 5.

OBJECTIVE: We examined low concentrations of XEs [dieldrin, endosulfan, o', p'-dichlorodiphenyl-ethylene (DDE), nonylphenol (NP), and bisphenol A (BPA)] for nongenomic actions via action of membrane estrogen receptors (ERs).
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16626760 Lemaire G, Mnif W, Mauvais P, Balaguer P, Rahmani R: Activation of alpha- and beta-estrogen receptors by persistent pesticides in reporter cell lines. Life Sci. 2006 Aug 15;79(12):1160-9. Epub 2006 Mar 27.

Antagonistic activities toward hERalpha and hERbeta were shown in three (carbaryl, pentachlorophenol and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and seven (chlordecone, methoxychlor, carbaryl, endosulfan, endrin, dieldrin, aldrin) pesticides, respectively.
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10330684 Legler J, van den Brink CE, Brouwer A, Murk AJ, van der Saag PT, Vethaak AD, van der Burg B: Development of a stably transfected estrogen receptor-mediated luciferase reporter gene assay in the human T47D breast cancer cell line. Toxicol Sci. 1999 Mar;48(1):55-66.

Determination of interactive effects of the (pseudo-) estrogens nonylphenol, o,p'DDT, chlordane, endosulfan, dieldrin, and methoxychlor revealed that, in combination with 3 pM E2, (pseudo-) estrogens were additive.
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8633243 Arnold SF, Klotz DM, Collins BM, Vonier PM, Guillette LJ Jr, McLachlan JA: Synergistic activation of estrogen receptor with combinations of environmental chemicals. Science. 1996 Jun 7;272(5267):1489-92.

Combinations of two weak environmental estrogens, such as dieldrin, endosulfan, or toxaphene, were 1000 times as potent in hER-mediated transactivation as any chemical alone.
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9460653 Petit F, Le Goff P, Cravedi JP, Valotaire Y, Pakdel F: Two complementary bioassays for screening the estrogenic potency of xenobiotics: recombinant yeast for trout estrogen receptor and trout hepatocyte cultures. J Mol Endocrinol. 1997 Dec;19(3):321-35.

In our study, 50% of the 49 chemical compounds tested exhibited estrogenic activity in the two bioassays: the herbicide diclofop-methyl; the fungicides biphenyl, dodemorph, and triadimefon; the insecticides lindane, methyl parathion, chlordecone, dieldrin, and endosulfan; polychlorinated biphenyl mixtures; the plasticizers or detergents alkylphenols and phthalates; and phytoestrogens.
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11162928 Matthews J, Celius T, Halgren R, Zacharewski T: Differential estrogen receptor binding of estrogenic substances: a species comparison. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2000 Nov 15;74(4):223-34.

Methoxychlor, p,p'-DDT, o,p'-DDE, p,p'-DDE, alpha-endosulfan and dieldrin weakly bound to the ERs from the human, mouse, chicken and green anole.
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10993706 Hood TE, Calabrese EJ, Zuckerman BM: Detection of an estrogen receptor in two nematode species and inhibition of binding and development by environmental chemicals. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2000 Sep;47(1):74-81.

Twenty-five nanomolar concentrations of toxaphene, dieldrin, and dieldrin plus nonylphenol significantly inhibited estrogen binding to the receptor in P. redivivus.
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9171990 Danzo BJ: Environmental xenobiotics may disrupt normal endocrine function by interfering with the binding of physiological ligands to steroid receptors and binding proteins. Environ Health Perspect. 1997 Mar;105(3):294-301.

To determine whether xenobiotics (present at a concentration of 100 microM) exert their action through steroid-mediated pathways, we examined their ability to inhibit the binding of [3H] physiological ligands (present at a concentration of 7 nM) to the androgen and estrogen receptors, rat androgen-binding protein (ABP), and human sex hormone-binding globulin (hSHBG).
The gamma- and delta-isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane, congeners of dichlorodiphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT; p,p'-DDT; p,p'-DDE; o,p'-DDT), dieldrin, atrazine, and pentachlorophenol, caused a statistically significant inhibition of specific binding of [3H] 5 alpha-DHT to the androgen receptor that ranged from 100% (p,p'-DDE) to 25% (dieldrin).
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15531431 Bulayeva NN, Watson CS: Xenoestrogen-induced ERK-1 and ERK-2 activation via multiple membrane-initiated signaling pathways. Environ Health Perspect. 2004 Nov;112(15):1481-7.

Xenoestrogens can mimic or antagonize the activity of physiological estrogens, and the suggested mechanism of xenoestrogen action involves binding to estrogen receptors (ERs).
We tested a phytoestrogen (coumestrol), organochlorine pesticides or their metabolites (endosulfan, dieldrin, and DDE), and detergent by-products of plastics manufacturing (p-nonylphenol and bisphenol A).
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11944962 Tollefsen KE, Mathisen R, Stenersen J: Estrogen mimics bind with similar affinity and specificity to the hepatic estrogen receptor in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2002 Mar;126(1):14-22.

The pesticides toxaphen and dieldrin, which are proposed to bind to and activate the human ER, did not display significant binding affinity for the fish ER, however.
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17366818 Narita S, Goldblum RM, Watson CS, Brooks EG, Estes DM, Curran EM, Midoro-Horiuti T: Environmental estrogens induce mast cell degranulation and enhance IgE-mediated release of allergic mediators. Environ Health Perspect. 2007 Jan;115(1):48-52.


We incubated a human mast cell line and primary mast cell cultures derived from bone marrow of wild type and estrogen receptor alpha (ER-alpha)-deficient mice with environmental estrogens with and without estradiol or IgE and allergens.
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18252963 Buteau-Lozano H, Velasco G, Cristofari M, Balaguer P, Perrot-Applanat M: Xenoestrogens modulate vascular endothelial growth factor secretion in breast cancer cells through an estrogen receptor-dependent mechanism. J Endocrinol. 2008 Feb;196(2):399-412.

Genistein, bisphenol A (BPA), 4-(tert-octyl) phenol (OP), dieldrin, and several phthalates, including benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP) and di-ethyl-2-hexyle phthalate (DEHP), were first shown to be estrogenic.
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12417264 Coumoul X, Diry M, Barouki R: PXR-dependent induction of human CYP3A4 gene expression by organochlorine pesticides. Biochem Pharmacol. 2002 Nov 15;64(10):1513-9.


One of their effects is to bind and activate estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha).
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9703490 Arcaro KF, Vakharia DD, Yang Y, Gierthy JF: Lack of synergy by mixtures of weakly estrogenic hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls and pesticides. Environ Health Perspect. 1998 Aug;106 Suppl 4:1041-6.

We examined the estrogenicity of binary mixtures of the hydroxylated polychlorinated biphenyls (OHPCBs) 2,4,6-trichloro-4'-biphenylol (2,4,6-TCB-4'-OH) and 2,3,4,5-tetrachloro-4'-biphenylol and the pesticides endosulfan and dieldrin.
The OHPCBs and pesticides were tested in both the MCF-7 focus assay and a competitive estrogen-receptor binding assay.
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9168004 Arnold SF, Vonier PM, Collins BM, Klotz DM, Guillette LJ Jr, McLachlan JA: In vitro synergistic interaction of alligator and human estrogen receptors with combinations of environmental chemicals. Environ Health Perspect. 1997 Apr;105 Suppl 3:615-8.

The environmental chemicals included the insecticide chlordane, which has no estrogenic activity, and the pesticides dieldrin and toxaphene, which have very weak estrogenic activity.
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10825672 Tully DB, Cox VT, Mumtaz MM, Davis VL, Chapin RE: Six high-priority organochlorine pesticides, either singly or in combination, are nonestrogenic in transfected HeLa cells. Reprod Toxicol. 2000 Mar-Apr;14(2):95-102.

To address these concerns, we have evaluated the ability of six organochlorine pesticides (4, 4'-DDT, 4,4'-DDD, 4,4'-DDE, aldrin, dieldrin, or endrin, all classified high priority by ATSDR) to modulate transcriptional activation of an estrogen-responsive reporter gene in transfected HeLa cells.
In these assays, HeLa cells cotransfected with an expression vector encoding estrogen receptor and an estrogen-responsive chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter plasmid were exposed to these pesticides individually and in defined combinations.
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16765462 Garcia-Reyero N, Barber DS, Gross TS, Johnson KG, Sepulveda MS, Szabo NJ, Denslow ND: Dietary exposure of largemouth bass to OCPs changes expression of genes important for reproduction. Aquat Toxicol. 2006 Jul 20;78(4):358-69. Epub 2006 Jun 9.

Dieldrin and p,p'-DDE are ubiquitous contaminants known to act as endocrine disruptors, causing impaired development and reproduction in fish and wildlife.
Both pesticides also altered steady state mRNA expression levels of a set of genes chosen to represent three possible mechanisms of endocrine disruption: (1) direct interaction with soluble sex steroid receptors, (2) biosynthesis of endogenous sex hormones, and (3) metabolism of endogenous hormones. p,p'-DDE acted as a weak estrogen, increasing the expression of vitellogenin and estrogen receptor alpha in the liver. p,p'-DDE also altered the expression of genes involved in the synthesis of endogenous hormones as well as their metabolism.
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11250804 Snedeker SM: Pesticides and breast cancer risk: a review of DDT, DDE, and dieldrin. . Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Mar;109 Suppl 1:35-47.

These include the effect of analytic methods, dietary factors, menopausal status, use of different types of control populations, lactation history, estrogen receptor status, ethnic/racial subgroups, breast tumor characteristics, and polymorphisms.
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10774817 Hodges LC, Bergerson JS, Hunter DS, Walker CL: Estrogenic effects of organochlorine pesticides on uterine leiomyoma cells in vitro. Toxicol Sci. 2000 Apr;54(2):355-64.

These data demonstrate that organochlorine pesticides act as estrogen receptor agonists in Eker rat uterine myometrial cells, and they indicate a need for further investigation of the potential tissue-specific agonist activity of these pesticides and their role in the pathogenesis of uterine leiomyoma.
This contrasted with the agonist profile of methoxychlor, dieldrin, toxaphene, and endosulfan-beta.
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12167306 Okoumassoun LE, Averill-Bates D, Gagne F, Marion M, Denizeau F: Assessing the estrogenic potential of organochlorine pesticides in primary cultures of male rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocytes using vitellogenin as a biomarker. Toxicology. 2002 Sep 16;178(3):193-207.

Non-toxic levels of these compounds competed with E (2) for binding to the estrogen receptor.
The aim of this study was to assess the estrogenic activity of the organochlorine pesticides o,p'-DDT, dieldrin, aldrin, heptachlor, mirex and DDT in rainbow trout hepatocyte cultures using vitellogenin (Vtg) as the biomarker.
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11792437 Tollefsen KE: Interaction of estrogen mimics, singly and in combination, with plasma sex steroid-binding proteins in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Aquat Toxicol. 2002 Feb;56(3):215-25.

The plastizicer n-butyl benzyl phthalate only displayed weak binding affinity for the rtSBP, whereas the pesticide dieldrin was not able to compete for the high affinity estradiol-binding sites in plasma.
The results suggest that the presence of rtSBP may potentially modulate the bioavailability of EMs to estrogen receptors relative to each other and to the endogenous sex steroids themselves.
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12634124 Mumtaz MM, Tully DB, El-Masri HA, De Rosa CT: Gene induction studies and toxicity of chemical mixtures. Environ Health Perspect. 2002 Dec;110 Suppl 6:947-56.

In the first study, six organochlorine pesticides (4,4 -DDT, 4,4 -DDD, 4,4 -DDE, aldrin, dieldrin, or endrin) were selected from the ATSDR Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (or Superfund) priority list and tested for their ability to modulate transcriptional activation of an estrogen-responsive reporter gene in transfected HeLa cells.
In these assays, HeLa cells cotransfected with an expression vector encoding estrogen receptor and an estrogen-responsive chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter plasmid were dosed with and without selected environmental chemicals either individually or in defined combinations.
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