Associations of the Fecal Microbiome With Urinary Estrogens and Estrogen Metabolites in Postmenopausal Women: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism: Vol 0, No 0

Context:

The gut microbiota may influence the risk of breast cancer through effects on endogenous estrogens.

Objective:

The objective of the study was to investigate whether urinary estrogens and
estrogen metabolites are associated with the diversity and composition
of the fecal microbiome.

Design and Setting:

This was a cross-sectional study among women enrolled in Kaiser Permanente of Colorado.

Participants:

A total of 60 women drawn from a random sample of healthy postmenopausal  women (aged 55–69 y), without current or recent use of antibiotics or  hormone therapy and no history of cancer or gastrointestinal disease  participated in the study.

Outcome Measures and Methods:

Creatinine-standardized urinary estrogens (estrone and estradiol) and 13 hydroxylated estrogen
metabolites were measured in spot urines by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The fecal microbiome was assessed using  pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons. General linear models were used to test for associations of diversity and composition of the fecal  microbiome with parent estrogen (estrone + estradiol), total estrogens,  and estrogen metabolites and the ratio of estrogen metabolites to parent estrogen, which has been predictive of postmenopausal breast cancer  risk in previous studies.

Results:

The ratio of metabolites to parents was directly associated with whole-tree phylogenetic diversity (R = 0.35, P= .01). Relative abundances of the order Clostridiale (R = 0.32, P= .02) and the genus Bacteroides (R = -0.30, P= .03) were also correlated with the ratio of metabolites to parents.
Associations were independent of age, body mass index, and study design  factors.

Conclusions:

Our data suggest that women with a more diverse gut microbiome exhibit an  elevated urinary ratio of hydroxylated estrogen metabolites to parent  estrogen. Further research is warranted to confirm and relate these  findings to clinical disease.

Related articles

• Risk of Breast Cancer Reduced With Favorable Ratio of Estrogen Metabolites (medindia.net)
• Relationship of serum estrogens and estrogen metabolites to postmenopausal breast cancer risk: a nested case-control study (scicombinator.com)
• The Environment Within: Exploring the Role of the Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease (ehp.niehs.nih.gov)
• Microbiology: Microbiome science needs a healthy dose of scepticism (microbeworld.org)

How do sex hormones influence autism risk? - Medical News Today

Changes in the brain's estrogen signaling may partly explain the higher rates of autism spectrum disorders among males, according to new research published in the journal Molecular Autism.

Here's the paper:-
Dysregulation of estrogen receptor beta (ERβ), aromatase (CYP19A1), and ER co-activators in the middle frontal gyrus of autism spectrum disorder subjects

PLOS ONE: The Estrogen Hypothesis of Obesity

The explanation of obesity as a simple result of positive energy balance fails to account for the scope of variable responses to diets and lifestyles. It is postulated that individual physiological and anatomical variation may be responsible for developing obesity. Girls in poor families develop greater adiposity than their male siblings, a trend not present in richer environments. This indicates strong influence of estrogen on fat accumulation irrespective of poor socioeconomic conditions. Obesity rates in males and females of developed nations are similar, while in poorer nations obesity is much more prevalent in females. Female to male ratio of obesity correlates inversely with gross domestic product. Therefore, the parity of male and female obesity in developed countries may result from male exposure to environmental estrogen-like substances associated with affluence. These hormonally driven mechanisms may be equally active within both sexes in more developed areas, thereby increasing overall obesity

Resveratrol modulates the inflammatory response via an estrogen receptor-signal integration network | eLife

Resveratrol has beneficial effects on aging, inflammation and
metabolism, which are thought to result from activation of the lysine
deacetylase, sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), the cAMP pathway, or AMP-activated
protein kinase. Here we report that resveratrol acts as a
pathway-selective estrogen receptor-α (ERα) ligand to modulate the
inflammatory response but not cell proliferation. A crystal structure of
the ERα ligand-binding domain (LBD) as a complex with resveratrol
revealed a unique perturbation of the coactivator-binding surface,
consistent with an altered coregulator recruitment profile. Gene
expression analyses revealed significant overlap of TNFα genes modulated
by resveratrol and estradiol. Furthermore, the ability of resveratrol
to suppress interleukin-6 transcription was shown to require ERα and
several ERα coregulators, suggesting that ERα functions as a primary
conduit for resveratrol activity.

See Scripps News Release 

Study finds more reason to review the use of BPA

Deakin University scientists are part of the international research team
led by Professor Vincent Laudet at the Institute of Functional Genomics
of Lyon (ENS de Lyon, CNRS, France) that has discovered a new pathway
for bisphenol A (BPA) to spread through the body via a protein known as
ERRy (estrogen-related receptor gamma ESRRG ), which plays an important role in
metabolism. The involvement of ERRy adds weight to the possibility that
BPA could be a cause of obesity and diabetes.

In postmenopausal women at risk for dementia, estradiol preserves key brain regions - Medical News Today

When initiated soon after menopause, hormone therapy with estradiol prevented degeneration in key brain regions of women who were at heightened dementia risk, according to a new study led by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

Diabetes and high estrogen levels raise dementia risk for women - Medical News Today

New research suggests that older women who have both high estrogen levels and diabetes have a significantly higher risk of dementia, compared with older women who do not have these combined conditions. This is according to a study published online in Neurology. The investigators found that women who had high estrogen levels were more than twice as likely to develop dementia, compared with women who had low estrogen levels.

However, the researchers found that women who had both high estrogen levels and diabetes were 14 times more likely to develop dementia, compared with women without diabetes who had low estrogen levels.

Cancer risks double when two carcinogens present at 'safe' levels, epigenetics study finds

 "New research conducted by Texas Tech University scientists has found that low doses of arsenic and oestrogen together -- even at levels low enough to be considered "safe" for humans if they were on their own -- can cause cancer in prostate cells."