NCT06369363

Estrogen Deficiency on Cardiovascular Risk

Estrogen Deficiency on Cardiovascular Risk: Sympathetic Responses and Pro-inflammatory Cytokines

• Status: Not Yet Recruiting
• Phase: EARLY_Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 54 Years – 75 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

To explore how estrogen deficiency impacts the blood pressure (BP) and sympathetic nerve activity (SNA), and how it impacts the production of the key pro-inflammatory mediators such as Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). It is hypothesized that estrogen deficiency increases BP, SNA and the pathway activities of the key pro-inflammatory mediators. Those effects are impacted through the downregulation of the estrogen receptor.

Detailed description

In the United States, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the major health concerns and affects approximately 6.5 million people over 40. As the number of elderly women increases, CVD becomes an increasing problem. Estrogen is cardioprotective, and the menopause condition in the aging female population induces the loss of this protective effect. There has been a dilemma for medical treatment in CVD patients with comorbidities including endometriosis or breast cancer history. Overall, these patients lose the cardioprotective effect of estrogen and increase the risk of CVD development. However, there is still little understanding regarding the mechanism for how estrogen suppression in women accelerates CVD development. The proposed studies are, therefore, the essential first step to elucidating how estrogen alters mechanisms underlying CVD and provide the preclinical data to design studies for future alternative intervention strategies for CVD patients undergoing estrogen suppression therapies.

Conditions

• Postmenopausal Symptoms
• Cardiovascular Diseases

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Placebo	Subjects will be assigned to 1 week of transdermal placebo patch.
DRUG	Estradiol	Subjects will be assigned to 1 week of transdermal estradiol (0.05 mg/day) patch.

Timeline

• Start date: 2026-09-01
• Primary completion: 2028-09-01
• Completion: 2028-11-01
• First posted: 2024-04-17
• Last updated: 2025-11-17

Regulatory

• FDA-regulated drug study