Turner Syndrome Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Turner Syndrome, including details on symptoms, causes, chromosomes, prognosis.

Monosomy for the X-chromosome is associated with an atherogenic lipid profile.

Van PL, Bakalov VK, Bondy CA

Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Men typically have a more atherogenic lipid profile than women characterized by higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and triglyceride levels and reduced lipid particle size, contributing to a greater risk for coronary disease. To determine whether X-chromosomal gene dosage affects lipid metabolism independent of sex steroid effects, we compared lipid profiles in age- and body mass-matched young women with ovarian failure, differing only in X-chromosome dosage. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Women with premature ovarian failure associated with monosomy X or Turner syndrome (TS, n = 118) were compared with women with 46,XX premature ovarian failure (n = 51) in an in-patient clinical research center unit at the National Institutes of Health. These women were normally on estrogen replacement treatment but discontinued the estrogen 2 wk before study. MAJOR OUTCOMES: Fasting lipid levels and nuclear magnetic resonance lipid particle profiles in the two study groups were the major outcomes. RESULTS: Average age and body mass were similar in the two groups of women, but LDL cholesterol (P = 0.001) and triglyceride levels (P = 0.0005) were higher in the TS group. Also among women with TS, average LDL particle size was reduced (P < 0.0001) and LDL particle concentration increased, with a 2-fold increase in the smallest particle categories (P < 0.0001). Whereas total high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were similar, high-density lipoprotein particle size was significantly smaller in women with TS, compared with women with premature ovarian failure (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Women with 45,X with ovarian failure exhibit a distinctly more atherogenic lipid profile than 46,XX women with ovarian failure, suggesting that the second X-chromosome contributes to a more salutary lipid profile in normal women, independent of sex steroid effects.

Published 8 August 2006 in J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 91(8): 2867-70.
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