present work was designed to study the effect of estrogen replacement therapy (ETR) in postmenopausal women with coronary artery disease (cAp)„ on cell adhesion molecules (vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 "VACAM-1" and E-selectin ) which are markers of the inflammatory response of endothelium in CAD. The groups evaluated were 15 postmenopausal women without CAD not receiving ER-T (group Ia), 15 postmenopausal women with CAD not receiving ERT (group Ib), 15 postmenopausal women without CAD receiving ERT (group IIa) and 15 postmenopausal
women with CAD receiving ERT (group II b). Control group included 10 healthy premenopausal women.
Exclusion• criteria included acute myocardial infarction, use of progesterone, ERT by topical application, recent viral illness, diabetes mellitus, smoking, active inflammatory or connective tissue disease and clinically significant systemic illness. Detailed history, clinical examination, and the following laboratory investigations were performed to every subject: fasting plasma glucose, serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, serum LDL, serum HDL, serum stradiol and serum levels of cell adhesion molecules (sEselectin a nd 5VCAM-1), ECG and stress test (when indicated). Diagnosis of CAD was documented by coronary angiography. |
