Familial correlations in postmenopausal serum concentrations of sex steroid hormones and other mitogens: A twins and sisters study

J Stone; E Folkerd; D Doody; C Schroen; SA Treloar; GG Giles; MC Pike; DR English; MC Southey; JL Hopper; M Dowsett

Journal article

Familial correlations in postmenopausal serum concentrations of sex steroid hormones and other mitogens: A twins and sisters study

J Stone, E Folkerd, D Doody, C Schroen, SA Treloar, GG Giles, MC Pike, DR English, MC Southey, JL Hopper, M Dowsett

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism | ENDOCRINE SOC | Published : 2009

DOI: 10.1210/jc.2009-0713

Abstract

Background: Serum concentrations of some hormones are risk factors for certain cancers, but little is known about their familial associations especially for females. Methods: We measured serum concentrations of estradiol (E2), testosterone (T), SHBG, prolactin, and IGF-I for 645 Australian female postmenopausal twins and their sisters [182 monozygotic (MZ) and 107 dizygotic (DZ) pairs and 67 nontwin sisters] using well-established immunoassays. After suitable transformation and adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), and time since menopause, familial correlations and proportions of variance attributed to genetic (h2) and nongenetic factors common to sisterships (c2) were estimated under t..

View full abstract

University of Melbourne Researchers

Jennifer Stone Author

Graham Giles Author

Dallas English Author

Melissa Southey Author

Grants

Funding Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Da Costa International Fund for Breast Cancer Prevention, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, and National Health Service funding to the Royal Marsden National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre. J.L.H. is an Australia Fellow of the NHMRC and a Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium Group Leader. M. C. S. is a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow.