Editing Transcription factor (section)

==== Response to intercellular signals ====

Cells can communicate with each other by releasing molecules that produce [[signal transduction|signaling cascades]] within another receptive cell.  If the signal requires upregulation or downregulation of genes in the recipient cell, often transcription factors will be downstream in the signaling cascade.<ref name="pmid8293575">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Pawson T |year=1993 |title=Signal transduction--a conserved pathway from the membrane to the nucleus |journal=Developmental Genetics |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=333–8 |doi=10.1002/dvg.1020140502 |pmid=8293575}}</ref> [[Estrogen]] signaling is an example of a fairly short signaling cascade that involves the [[estrogen receptor]] transcription factor:  Estrogen is secreted by tissues such as the [[ovary|ovaries]] and [[placenta]], crosses the [[cell membrane]] of the recipient cell, and is bound by the estrogen receptor in the cell's [[cytoplasm]].  The estrogen receptor then goes to the cell's [[Cell nucleus|nucleus]] and binds to its [[DNA binding site|DNA-binding sites]], changing the transcriptional regulation of the associated genes.<ref name="pmid11916222">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Osborne CK, Schiff R, Fuqua SA, Shou J |date=December 2001 |title=Estrogen receptor: current understanding of its activation and modulation |journal=Clinical Cancer Research |volume=7 |issue=12 Suppl |pages=4338s–4342s; discussion 4411s–4412s |pmid=11916222}}</ref>