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Estrogen receptor genotype modulates myocardial perfusion in young men

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Abstract

Most of the effects of estrogens are mediated by estrogen receptors. Vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells express estrogen receptor α (ESR1) in both genders. A long genotype group of a common thymine-adenine (TA) dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in the regulatory region of this gene has previously been related to coronary artery disease. The present study examined whether coronary blood flow is affected by this genotype. A total of 49 healthy men were genotyped by PCR and divided into three groups according to median number of the ESR1 promoter TA repeat (=19), i.e., in the short allele genotype group both alleles were of fewer than 19 repeats whereas in the long allele group both alleles were 19 repeats or more. The intermediate group comprised men who had one short and one long allele. Myocardial blood flow was measured by positron emission tomography using [15O]water, performed at rest and during adenosine stimulation. Men with long alleles had lower adenosine-stimulated coronary flow than those with short alleles and those with one short and one long allelle. Our results suggest that adenosine-stimulated myocardial perfusion is lower in subjects with ESR1 long alleles than the other TA repeat genotypes.

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Abbreviations

ESR1 :

Estrogen receptor 1

PET :

Positron emission tomography

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Acknowledgements

This study received financial support from the Medical Research Grants of the Turku University Central Hospital, the Academy of Finland, Helsinki, the Medical Research Foundation of the Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation and the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation. Bristol-Myers Squibb Finland provided the drugs used in the study free of charge.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Tampere, 33014, Tampere, Finland

    Tarja A. Kunnas

  2. Department of Clinical Chemistry, Centre for Laboratory Medicine, Medical School, Tampere University Hospital, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Tarja A. Kunnas, Terho Lehtimäki, Pekka J. Karhunen, Reijo Laaksonen & Seppo T. Nikkari

  3. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Reijo Laaksonen

  4. Turku PET Centre, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Tuula Janatuinen, Risto Vesalainen, Pirjo Nuutila & Juhani Knuuti

  5. Department of Medicine, Turku University Central Hospital, Turku, Finland

    Risto Vesalainen

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Pirjo Nuutila

Authors
  1. Tarja A. Kunnas
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  2. Terho Lehtimäki
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  3. Pekka J. Karhunen
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  4. Reijo Laaksonen
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  5. Tuula Janatuinen
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  6. Risto Vesalainen
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  7. Pirjo Nuutila
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  9. Seppo T. Nikkari
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Correspondence to Tarja A. Kunnas.

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Kunnas, T.A., Lehtimäki, T., Karhunen, P.J. et al. Estrogen receptor genotype modulates myocardial perfusion in young men. J Mol Med 82, 821–825 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-004-0594-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-004-0594-4

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