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Updated: Jun 17, 2026
06:18
An In Vivo Estrogen Deficiency Mouse Model for Screening Exogenous Estrogen Treatments of Cardiovascular Dysfunction After Menopause
Published on: August 13, 2019
Postmenopausal estrogen and progestin effects on the serum proteome
Sharon J Pitteri1, Samir M Hanash, Aaron Aragaki
1Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
Genome Medicine
|December 26, 2009
Summary
Postmenopausal hormone therapy affects numerous serum proteins, with similar changes seen for estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin. Some proteins and pathways show differential effects, potentially explaining distinct clinical outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Proteomics
- Endocrinology
Background:
- The Women's Health Initiative trials revealed clinical outcome differences between estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin therapies.
- Underlying biological mechanisms for these distinct postmenopausal hormone therapy effects remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To elucidate the biological mechanisms of postmenopausal hormone therapy by analyzing serum proteomic changes.
- To compare proteomic alterations induced by estrogen alone versus estrogen plus progestin therapy.
Main Methods:
- Proteomic discovery platform applied to pooled serum samples from women in estrogen-alone and estrogen-plus-progestin trials.
- Baseline and 1-year post-treatment serum samples analyzed from 50 women (10 per pool).
Main Results:
- 378 proteins quantified; 169 showed significant concentration changes (P < 0.05) with either therapy.
- Quantitative changes were highly correlated between estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin.
- 84 proteins showed significant changes (FDR < 0.05) with both therapies; differential effects noted in growth factor and inflammation pathways.
Conclusions:
- Serum proteomic analysis identified numerous proteins similarly affected by both hormone therapy types.
- Distinct protein and pathway alterations between estrogen alone and estrogen plus progestin may explain differing clinical effects.
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