Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.
ERalpha is a ligand-activated transcription factor and a key regulator of the processes involved in cellular proliferation and differentiation. In addition, aberrant ERalpha activity is linked to several pathological conditions including breast cancer. A complex network of coregulatory proteins is largely believed to determine the transcriptional activity of ERalpha. We report here the isolation of a protein, denoted RTA for repressor of tamoxifen transcriptional activity, which contains an RNA recognition motif and interacts with the receptor N-terminal activation domain. RTA interacts with RNA in vitro, and its overexpression inhibits the partial agonist activity manifest by the antiestrogen tamoxifen while minimally affecting E2-activated transcription. Mutation of the RNA recognition motif alters RNA binding specificity and results in a dominant negative form of RTA that leads to derepression of ERalpha transcriptional activity, allowing all classes of antiestrogens to manifest partial agonist activity and enhancing agonist efficacy. These findings suggest a role for RNA binding proteins as coregulatory factors of the nuclear receptor family and reveal a novel mechanism by which antiestrogens can manifest agonist activities in some tissues.