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Rheumatology 2008 47(Supplement 3):iii2-iii5; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ken150
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Oestrogens in rheumatic diseases: friend or foe?

M. Cutolo1, S. Capellino2 and R. H. Straub2

1Research Laboratories and Clinical Academic Unit of Rheumatology, University of Genova Italy, Genova, Italy and 2Department of Internal Medicine I, Laboratory of NeuroEndocrinoImmunology, University Hospital, Regensburg, Germany.

Correspondence to: M. Cutolo, Research Laboratories and Clinical Academic Unit of Rheumatology, University of Genova Italy, Viale Benedetto XV, 6, 16132, Genova, Italy. E-mail: mcutolo{at}unige.it


  Abstract

Immunological and epidemiological evidences suggest that female sex hormones play an important role in the aetiology and pathophysiology of chronic inflammatory diseases; however, whether (or when) oestrogens are friends or foes in inflammatory/immune-mediated rheumatic diseases is still a matter of debate.

Several significant factors generate confusion and opposite conclusions in evaluating the role of oestrogens in inflammatory/immune diseases. These factors include the relatively superficial translation done from the animal studies to the human condition, the different effects of oestrogens on their different receptors or on different target cells, the different oestrogen concentrations employed and finally, opposite effects (especially on cell proliferation) exerted by different peripheral oestrogen metabolites.

However, as supported by the higher prevalence of rheumatic autoimmune diseases in women, oestrogens are generally considered as enhancers of cell proliferation and humoral immune response.

KEY WORDS: Oestrogens, Autoimmune rheumatic diseases, Rheumatoid arthritis, Systemic lupus erythematosus, Aromatose, Sex hormones

Submitted 29 February 2008; Accepted 27 March 2008


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