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Evaluation of serum G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER-1) levels in patients with androgenetic alopecia

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Abstract

The effect of oestrogens in androgenetic alopecia (AGA) pathophysiology has not been clearly understood. However, they are considered to have a place in the AGA pathogenesis as the androgens do. The effects of estrogen occur via the estrogen receptors alpha and beta, and the recently discovered G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER-1). Aim of this study is to examine serum GPER-1 levels of AGA patients and to evaluate the place of them in AGA pathogenesis for the first time through the literature. 40 AGA patients with clinical AGA stage 2–3–4 diagnoses according to the Hamilton–Norwood classification for males, and AGA stage 2 according to Ludwig system for females and with normal serum dihydroepiandrosterone sulfate, estradiol, total testosterone, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone were included in the study in addition to 40 healthy controls with similar characteristics by means of age and gender. We received the medical history and performed the physical examinations. We measured serum GPER-1 levels. Serum GPER-1 levels of AGA patients and the control group were 30.43 ± 3.83 ng/mL and 14.18 ± 3.61 ng/mL (mean ± SD), respectively. The levels were detected as significantly increased in AGA group compared with the control group (p = 0.007). No serum GPER-1 level differences were found among female and male patients (p = 0.101). Significantly high levels of serum GPER-1 levels in AGA patients without any relationship between gender and GPER-1 Levels compared with healthy controls reminded us that GPER-1 might have a role in AGA pathogenesis independent from the gender.

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Data available on request from the authors.

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IBM SPSS version 22 (IBM SPSS for Windows version 22; IBM Corporation; Armonk, NY, ABD) program.

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The authors declared that this study received no financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, Kahramanmaraş Sutcu Imam University School of Medicine, Kahramanmaraş, 46100, Turkey

    Perihan Öztürk & Mine Müjde Kuş

  2. Department of Biochemistry, Kahramanmaraş Sutcu Imam University School of Medicine, Kahramanmaras, 46100, Turkey

    Ergul Belge Kurutas

Authors
  1. Perihan Öztürk
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  2. Ergul Belge Kurutas
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  3. Mine Müjde Kuş
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation [by PÖ and EBK], data collection [by MMK] and analysis [by EBK] were performed. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [by PÖ and MMK] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mine Müjde Kuş.

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Ethics approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University (Date 26.08.2020/No. 04).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Öztürk, P., Kurutas, E.B. & Kuş, M.M. Evaluation of serum G protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER-1) levels in patients with androgenetic alopecia. Arch Dermatol Res 314, 681–685 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-021-02269-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-021-02269-0

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