Association Between Estrogen Receptor α Gene Variation and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Atherothrombotic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke are multifactorial disorders with substantial heritable components. Genetic constitution may contribute to underlying risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia and also may act through other, unidentified routes to alter susceptibility to CVD events.^1,2 While the relation between estrogen and CVD events remains unclear, there is a substantial body of epidemiological evidence that points toward endogenous estrogen as having a protective role, although in several recently reported clinical trials, combination hormone therapy was associated with an increased incidence of MI and stroke.^3-5