A prospective study of androgen levels, hormone-related genes and risk of rheumatoid arthritis

摘要: Introduction Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is more common in females than males and sex steroid hormones may part explain this difference. We conducted a case–control study nested within two prospective studies to determine the associations between plasma measured prior RA onset polymorphisms androgen receptor (AR), estrogen 2 (ESR2), aromatase (CYP19) progesterone (PGR) genes risk. Methods genotyped AR, ESR2, CYP19, PGR SNPs AR CAG repeat Nurses' Health Study (NHS), NHS II (449 cases, 449 controls) Women's (72 202 controls). All controls were matched on cohort, age, Caucasian race, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use. dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), testosterone, binding globulin 132 pre-RA samples 396 cohorts. used conditional logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders assess Results Mean age of diagnosis was 55 years both cohorts; 58% cases rheumatoid factor positive at diagnosis. There no significant association DHEAS, total or calculated free testosterone risk future RA. individual variants haplotypes any seropositive RA, nor repeat. Conclusions Steroid levels single time point not associated with study. Our findings do suggest that androgens PGR, CYP19 are important women.