Description | Leukotriene E3 is an eicosanoid derived from 8,11,14-Eicosatrienoic acid by the 5-Lipoxygenase-Leukotriene Pathway. The eicosanoids are a diverse family of molecules that have powerful effects on cell function. They are best known as intercellular messengers, having autocrine and paracrine effects following their secretion from the cells that synthesize them. The diversity of possible products that can be synthesized from eicosatrienoic acid is due, in part to the variety of enzymes that can act on it. Studies have placed many, but not all, of these enzymes at or inside the nucleus. In some cases, the nuclear import or export of eicosatrienoic acid-processing enzymes is highly regulated. Furthermore, nuclear receptors that are activated by specific eicosanoids are known to exist. Taken together, these findings indicate that the enzymatic conversion of eicosatrienoic acid to specific signaling molecules can occur in the nucleus, that it is regulated, and that the synthesized products may act within the nucleus. Leukotriene E3 is also a by-product of the metabolism of leukotriene C3. Although they are primarily known for their roles in asthma, pain, fever and vascular responses, present evidence indicates that eicosanoids exert relevant effects on immune/inflammatory, as well as structural, cells pertinent to fibrogenesis. (PMID: 7306127, 8142566, 16574479, 15896193) |