BACKGROUND: Animal experiments suggest that exposure to elevated levels of androgens during development by means of so-called hormonal programming causes metabolic aberrations at adulthood. An indirect strategy to address the possible importance of such an influence also in humans would be to study female dizygotic twins, presuming that those with a twin brother--due to diffusion of testosterone--have been exposed to higher androgen levels prenatally. DESIGN: We have compared 8409 women with a male twin with 9166 women with a dizygotic female twin with respect to self-reported indices of anthropometry and metabolic aberrations at age 42 or older. RESULTS: Body mass index (BMI), body weight and rate of dyslipidemia were moderately, but significantly, higher in women from opposite-sexed (OS) twin pairs; splitting for age revealed this difference to be present in those ≥ 60 years of age only. CONCLUSION: The results (i) support the notion that comparisons of women with a twin brother with women from same-sexed twin pairs may be used to shed light on possible long-term effects of interindividual variations in early androgen exposure, and (ii) suggest that the effects of early androgen exposure on metabolism previously observed in animal experiments are of relevance also for humans.
BACKGROUND: Animal experiments suggest that exposure to elevated levels of androgens during development by means of so-called hormonal programming causes metabolic aberrations at adulthood. An indirect strategy to address the possible importance of such an influence also in humans would be to study female dizygotic twins, presuming that those with a twin brother--due to diffusion of testosterone--have been exposed to higher androgen levels prenatally. DESIGN: We have compared 8409 women with a male twin with 9166 women with a dizygotic female twin with respect to self-reported indices of anthropometry and metabolic aberrations at age 42 or older. RESULTS: Body mass index (BMI), body weight and rate of dyslipidemia were moderately, but significantly, higher in women from opposite-sexed (OS) twin pairs; splitting for age revealed this difference to be present in those ≥ 60 years of age only. CONCLUSION: The results (i) support the notion that comparisons of women with a twin brother with women from same-sexed twin pairs may be used to shed light on possible long-term effects of interindividual variations in early androgen exposure, and (ii) suggest that the effects of early androgen exposure on metabolism previously observed in animal experiments are of relevance also for humans.
Authors: Pirkko Korsoff; Leonie H Bogl; Päivi Korhonen; Antti J Kangas; Pasi Soininen; Mika Ala-Korpela; Richard J Rose; Risto Kaaja; Jaakko Kaprio Journal: Front Endocrinol (Lausanne) Date: 2014-03-07 Impact factor: 5.555
Authors: Leonie H Bogl; Aline Jelenkovic; Eero Vuoksimaa; Linda Ahrenfeldt; Kirsi H Pietiläinen; Maria A Stazi; Corrado Fagnani; Cristina D'Ippolito; Yoon-Mi Hur; Hoe-Uk Jeong; Judy L Silberg; Lindon J Eaves; Hermine H Maes; Gombojav Bayasgalan; Danshiitsoodol Narandalai; Tessa L Cutler; Christian Kandler; Kerry L Jang; Kaare Christensen; Axel Skytthe; Kirsten O Kyvik; Wendy Cozen; Amie E Hwang; Thomas M Mack; Catherine A Derom; Robert F Vlietinck; Tracy L Nelson; Keith E Whitfield; Robin P Corley; Brooke M Huibregtse; Tom A McAdams; Thalia C Eley; Alice M Gregory; Robert F Krueger; Matt McGue; Shandell Pahlen; Gonneke Willemsen; Meike Bartels; Toos C E M van Beijsterveldt; Zengchang Pang; Qihua Tan; Dongfeng Zhang; Nicholas G Martin; Sarah E Medland; Grant W Montgomery; Jacob V B Hjelmborg; Esther Rebato; Gary E Swan; Ruth Krasnow; Andreas Busjahn; Paul Lichtenstein; Sevgi Y Öncel; Fazil Aliev; Laura A Baker; Catherine Tuvblad; Sisira H Siribaddana; Matthew Hotopf; Athula Sumathipala; Fruhling Rijsdijk; Patrik K E Magnusson; Nancy L Pedersen; Anna K Dahl Aslan; Juan R Ordoñana; Juan F Sánchez-Romera; Lucia Colodro-Conde; Glen E Duncan; Dedra Buchwald; Adam D Tarnoki; David L Tarnoki; Yoshie Yokoyama; John L Hopper; Ruth J F Loos; Dorret I Boomsma; Thorkild I A Sørensen; Karri Silventoinen; Jaakko Kaprio Journal: Biol Sex Differ Date: 2017-04-27 Impact factor: 5.027
Authors: Aline Jelenkovic; Reijo Sund; Yoshie Yokoyama; Yoon-Mi Hur; Vilhelmina Ullemar; Catarina Almqvist; Patrik Ke Magnusson; Gonneke Willemsen; Meike Bartels; Catharina Em van Beijsterveldt; Leonie H Bogl; Kirsi H Pietiläinen; Eero Vuoksimaa; Fuling Ji; Feng Ning; Zengchang Pang; Tracy L Nelson; Keith E Whitfield; Esther Rebato; Clare H Llewellyn; Abigail Fisher; Gombojav Bayasgalan; Danshiitsoodol Narandalai; Morten Bjerregaard-Andersen; Henning Beck-Nielsen; Morten Sodemann; Adam D Tarnoki; David L Tarnoki; Syuichi Ooki; Maria A Stazi; Corrado Fagnani; Sonia Brescianini; Lise Dubois; Michel Boivin; Mara Brendgen; Ginette Dionne; Frank Vitaro; Tessa L Cutler; John L Hopper; Robert F Krueger; Matt McGue; Shandell Pahlen; Jeffrey M Craig; Richard Saffery; Claire Ma Haworth; Robert Plomin; Ariel Knafo-Noam; David Mankuta; Lior Abramson; S Alexandra Burt; Kelly L Klump; Robert F Vlietinck; Catherine A Derom; Ruth Jf Loos; Dorret I Boomsma; Thorkild I A Sørensen; Jaakko Kaprio; Karri Silventoinen Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2018-04-19 Impact factor: 4.379
Authors: Jonna Maria Eriksson; Sebastian Lundström; Paul Lichtenstein; Susanne Bejerot; Elias Eriksson Journal: Mol Autism Date: 2016-01-19 Impact factor: 7.509