SIZE POLYMORPHISMS OF THE ANDROGEN RECEPTOR AMONG FEMALE HISPANICS AND CORRELATION WITH ANDROGENIC CHARACTERISTICS

Objective: To determine whether trinucleotide repeat polymorphisms of the androgen receptor gene correlate with androgenic measures in femal e Hispanics. Methods: We studied 110 human volunteers from an endocrin e and infertility clinic. Measures of androgenism including Ferriman G allwey scores, waist-hip ratios, and body mass index (BMI) were correl ated with the number of trinucleotide repeats of base sequence cytosin e, adenine, and guanine in the androgen receptor gene. Serum testoster one was measured. Genomic DNA was obtained from leukocytes; amplificat ion of the repeat region of the androgen receptor gene was performed a nd the products sized on an acrylamide gel. Results: Trinucleotide rep eats within our population ranged from 12-27, with a normal distributi on. The number of repeats did not correlate with Ferriman Gallwey scor e or BMI, but correlated positively with waist-hip ratios (n = 54; r = 0.39, P = .028). Normoandrogenic patients with idiopathic hirsutism s howed an inverse relation between Ferriman Gallwey score and repeat si ze (n = 16; r = -0.60, P = .014). Conclusion: Our findings suggest tha t androgenism may be mildly influenced by the molecular characteristic s of the androgen receptor.