Estradiol usually induces certain gene expression when it enters a target cell. However, erythrocytes don't have nuclei. I have heard that this is a type of cell signalling called non-genomic signalling. From what I have searched, I assume that the signalling pathway is unknown. This is why I would at least like to know what biological effect estradiol produces in red blood cells.
Estradiol has a range of nongenomic functions including effects on nitric oxide (NO) generation, cell shape change, survival/apoptosis pathways, ion channels and so on. Nongenomic estradiol effects have already been observed in RBCs although not too much is known:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23297859
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10503940
Sounds like an interesting topic for future research!
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