Endogenous sex hormones and their associations with cardiovascular risk factors in post-menopausal women.

AIMS: Our aim was to understand the relationship between endogenous sex hormones and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in post-menopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-three post-menopausal women from a previous prospectively designed study were included. We analyzed endogenous sex hormones and biochemical parameters. RESULTS: Levels of estradiol and free testosterone were higher in patients with metabolic syndrome. Estradiol correlated positively with interleukin-6 (IL-6), weight, body mass index (BMI), insulin, homocysteine, and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Free testosterone correlated positively with weight, waist circumference (WC), BMI, insulin, HOMA-IR and negatively with HDL and SHBG. DHEAS correlated only with HDL. FSH correlated negatively with age, weight, WC, hip circumference, BMI, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, duration of menopause, fasting glucose, HDL, C-reactive protein, and insulin. LH correlated negatively with IL-6, age, WC, duration of menopause and SHBG. CONCLUSIONS: We identified endogenous estradiol and free testosterone as the strongest links to CVD risk. They can be used as biomarkers for CVD risk estimation.

Physical characterization of the MUC5AC mucin: a highly oligomeric glycoprotein whether isolated from cell culture or in vivo from respiratory mucous secretions.

We have isolated the high-M(r) mucins from growth medium of the early stage of an HT-29 cell culture by gel chromatography and isopycnic density gradient centrifugation. The mucins (buoyant density 1.34-1.44 g/ml) were reactive with an anti-peptide antiserum (MAN-5ACI) raised against a sequence from within the MUC5AC mucin. Similar antisera raised against the MUC2 and MUC5B mucins were not reactive. The MUC5AC reduced-mucin subunits exhibited a homogeneous charge distribution on anion-exchange chromatography, but appeared as two bands, one major and one more minor, after agarose gel electrophoresis. The unreduced mucins had an average M(r) in excess of 40 MDa and were visualized in the electron microscope as large, fine filamentous threads (many microns in length) that after reduction were greatly reduced in size (number average length 570 nm). Agarose gel electrophoresis of unreduced MUC5AC mucins identified a major band just entering the gel with evidence of a 'ladder' of faster-migrating minor bands. Partial reduction of the mucins increased the proportion of the faster bands and at least 16 could be discriminated. M(r) measurements showed that these bands differed by single monomer units. The mucins behaved as very stiff extended structures in solution and this characteristic might explain the poor separation of different-sized oligomers in sedimentation-rate experiments. The cell-culture mucin preparation had similar characteristics of charge and buoyant density to MUC5AC mucins from respiratory secretions in vivo. In addition the MUC5AC mucin from respiratory tract secretions exhibited similar behaviour, reduced and unreduced on agarose gel electrophoresis, indicating that the mucin has a similar molecular phenotype in vivo and in vitro.