A possible basis for structure function relationship of estrogens

It is well known that a wide variety of molecules compete for binding to the estrogen receptor and act as estrogens and/or antiestrogens. These molecules such as estradiol, diethylstilbestrol, doisynolic acid, the triarylethylenes, and cyclofenyl apparently share little resemblance which could account for their interaction with a common estrogen binding site. Knowledge of the receptor binding of triarylethylene and cyclofenyl prototypes, in particular, relative to that of the other estrogens is critical for understanding their structure-function relationship. We have carried out a study on the receptor binding specificity of triarylethylene and cyclofenyl prototypes. This study has revealed that these molecular types share considerable resemblance in their receptor binding specificity and differ from estradiol and other similar molecules in some important respects. However, comparison of their substructural binding specificities reveals the possibility that the triarylethylene and estradiol prototypes may interact with at least some common regions of the estrogen binding site. Based on this reasoning the comparative receptor binding of estrogens has been rationalized on the basis of a subsite hypothesis for the estrogen binding site. According to this hypothesis, the composite estrogen binding site is composed of essentially five subsites, and that the structurally different estrogenic prototypes can interact with different set of subsites, and thus differ in their binding orientation. The essential difference in the activity profile of estradiol prototypes and the triarylethylene antiestrogens reveals the possibility of a causal relationship between the binding orientation of a ligand and its activity profile. This model for receptor site can thus serve as a working hypothesis to rationalize the structure-function relationship of estrogens