Sylvia C. Hewitt

Estrogen is a critical regulator of endometrial health. Aberrant estrogen stimulation can result in infertility, endometrial cancer, and endometriosis. Here, we identified Zinc Finger MIZ-Type Containing 1 (Zmiz1) as a coregulator of uterin…

Diseases impacting the female reproductive tract pose a critical health concern. The establishment of in vitro models to study primary endometrial cells is crucial to understanding the mechanisms that contribute to normal endometrial functi…

For pregnancy to be established, uterine cells respond to the ovarian hormones, estrogen, and progesterone, via their nuclear receptors, the estrogen receptor (ESR1) and progesterone receptor (PGR). ESR1 and PGR regulate genes by binding ch…

Endometrial health is affected by molecular processes that underlie estrogen responses. We assessed estrogen regulation of endometrial function by integrating the estrogen receptor α (ESR1) cistromes and transcriptomes of endometrial biopsi…

Estrogen receptor α (ERα) modulates gene expression by interacting with chromatin regions that are frequently distal from the promoters of estrogen-regulated genes. Active chromatin-enriched "super-enhancer" (SE) regions, mainly observed in…

At birth, all female mice, including those that either lack estrogen receptor α (ERα-knockout) or that express mutated forms of ERα (AF2ERKI), have a hypoplastic uterus. However, uterine growth and development that normally accompany pubert…

Pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) during early transcription, mediated by the negative elongation factor (NELF) complex, allows cells to coordinate and appropriately respond to signals by modulating the rate of transcriptional pause rel…

The hormone estrogen is involved in both female and male reproduction, as well as numerous other biological systems including the neuroendocrine, vascular, skeletal, and immune systems. Therefore, it is also implicated in many different dis…

Aberrant regulation of uterine cell growth can lead to endometrial cancer and infertility. To understand the molecular mechanisms of estrogen-induced uterine cell growth, we removed the estrogen receptor α (Esr1) from mouse uterine stromal …

Development of uterine endometrial receptivity for implantation is orchestrated by cyclic steroid hormone-mediated signals. It is unknown if these signals are necessary for oviduct function in supporting fertilization and preimplantation de…

Endometriosis results from ectopic invasion of endometrial tissue within the peritoneal cavity. Aberrant levels of the estrogen receptor (ER), ERα and ERβ, and higher incidence of autoimmune disorders are observed in women with endometriosi…

A signaling pathway connects ovarian hormones to preparation of the mammalian uterus for pregnancy.

Endometriosis, a gynecological disease resulting from the ectopic invasion of endometrial tissue within the peritoneal cavity, affects approximately 10% of reproductive-aged women and is a significant source of pelvic pain, subfertility and…

Endometriosis, a gynecological disease resulting from the ectopic invasion of endometrial tissue within the peritoneal cavity, affects approximately 10% of reproductive-aged women and is a significant source of pelvic pain, subfertility and…

Female fertility requires estrogen to specifically stimulate estrogen receptor α (ERα)-dependent growth of the uterine epithelium in adult mice, while immature females show proliferation in both stroma and epithelium. To address the relativ…