What Does Estrogen Do?

Dr. Craig Jordan answers the question: 'What does estrogen do?'

By
V Craig Jordan, O.B.E., Ph.D., D.Sc., Vice President and Scientific Director for Medical Science, Fox Chase Cancer Center
May 8, 2008, 6:01 PM ET
1 min read

— -- Question: What does estrogen do?

Answer: Estrogen switches on target sites around a woman's body. It makes bones strong; it lowers cholesterol; it causes the uterus to enlarge during the reproductive cycle. It's really this essential hormone making a woman a woman. The estrogen receptor binds estrogen and switches on those target sites, just as it will switch on the target site -- a breast cancer -- to be able to make it grow as well.

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