Estrogens and atherosclerosis

Estrogens prevent heart disease in women and have also been shown to retard atherogenesis in animal models. Estrogens may act at several steps in the atherogenic process to prevent cardiovascular disease. Some of the benefits of estrogens can be ascribed to their ability to favorably alter the lipoprotein profile, i.e. increase high-density lipoprotein and decrease low-density lipoprotein, and also to their ability to prevent oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein. Other beneficial effects of estrogens include direct actions on the vascular endothelium and vascular smooth muscle, leading to a decrease in the expression of adhesion molecules involved in monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells, and to a decrease in certain chemokines involved in monocyte migration into the subendothelial space. Estrogens may also affect the later stages of atherogenesis. Finally, estrogens may modify the behavior of atherosclerotic vessels by altering their reactivity and thereby promoting vasodilation, and this may also partly account for their ability to prevent clinical events due to cardiovascular disease.