Endocrine Abstracts

Sex steroid concentrations have a strong genetic determination, but environmental factors and body composition play an important role. Intrauterine growth restriction, evidenced by low birth weight has been associated with altered gonadotropin metabolism. If this relationship is also present across the wide range of birth weight is unkown. Serum sex steroid concentrations were investigated in healthy young brothers in relation to birth weight, body composition and parental ste...

Objective: The human androgen recteptor (AR) contains a polyglutamine and a polyglycine stretch that are highly polymorphic and are coded by a CAG and GGN repeat, respectively, in exon 1 of the AR gene. Although in vitro studies indicated a possible effect on AR gene tanscription and clinical observations suggest a modulation of androgen action, the functional significance of the GGN repeat remains unclear.We wanted to assess whether the GGN repea...

Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) is a plasma glycoprotein responsible for high-affinity binding and transport of sex steroids. In men there is a large interindividual variation of SHBG levels, and consequently of serum total testosterone (T) and serum total estradiol (E2) levels. Family and twin studies suggested a strong genetic contribution to this variation, besides a hormonal and metabolic influence. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of a missense mutat...

Background: In elderly men, fracture risk is independently associated with higher serum sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels1. Previously, we observed lower free estradiol (E2) and higher SHBG levels in a three-generational family study of men with idiopathic osteoporosis2.Objective: To investigate associations between serum SHBG levels and cortical bone size at age of peak bone mass.Design: S...