MINIREVIEW: The Steroid Receptor Superfamily: More Excitement Predicted for the Future

Abstract

The overall molecular pathway for the action of steroid hormones has been known for the past 15 yr (1–9). Within the past 5 yr, the cDNAs for all major steroid hormones have been cloned and sequenced (10, 11). As might have been expected, they were related in structure and led to the definition of an even larger family of putative regulatory proteins. This superfamily of regulatory molecules was shown to include also the receptors for thyroid hormone (T3) vitamin D3 and retinoic acid. Perhaps more surprising was the inclusion of oncogenes such as v-erb A in this family. The latter is one of the two genes which comprise an oncogenic cassette in the avian myeloblastosis virus and appears to be a mutated form of a cellular gene coding for one of the multiple receptors for thyroid hormone. A summary of selected members of the steroid receptor superfamily is shown in Fig. 1.