A prospective study of androgen levels, hormone related genes and risk of rheumatoid arthritis
Karlson EW et al. – Study demonstrates that the steroid hormone levels measured at a single time point prior to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) onset were not associated with RA risk. These findings do not suggest that androgens or the androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor 2 (ESR2), aromatase (CYP19) and progesterone receptor (PGR) genes are important to RA risk in women.Methods- Aim was to determine the associations between plasma steroid hormones measured prior to RA onset and polymorphisms in the AR, ESR2, CYP19 and PGR and RA risk
- AR, ESR2, CYP19, PGR SNPs were genotyped and the AR CAG repeat in RA case-control studies nested within the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), NHS II and the Women's Health Study
- All controls were matched on cohort, age, Caucasian race, menopausal status, and postmenopausal hormone use
- Plasma dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS), testosterone, and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were measured in 132 pre-RA samples and 396 matched controls in NHS cohorts
Results- Mean age of RA diagnosis was 55 yrs in both cohorts; 58% of cases were RF positive at diagnosis
- No association between plasma DHEAS, total testosterone, or calculated free testosterone and risk of future RA
- No association between individual variants or haplotypes in any of the genes and RA or seropositive RA
- No association for the AR CAG repeat
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