Synthetic ligands of steroid hormone receptors
Members of the Peterson laboratory are involved in the design, synthesis, and evaluation of ligands of steroid hormone receptors. We synthesize estrogen and androgen antagonists designed to function as novel anticancer agents effective against hormone-dependent breast and prostate cancers. An additional area of interest involves the synthesis of steroids and related compounds that dimerize proteins in living cells (Figure 1) as a strategy to control biological pathways and identify protein targets of small molecules.
Figure 1. Synthesis of a 7-alpha-substituted estradiol-biotin chimera that heterodimerizes estrogen receptor and streptavidin proteins in living cells.
Figure 2. Schematic of a novel yeast three hybrid system employing estrogen receptors as a DNA-bound platform for display of natural products to target proteins in the cell nucleus.
Modified : 2/15/03