Estradiol promotes the development of a fibrotic phenotype and is increased in the serum of patients with systemic sclerosis

Table 1 Levels of estradiol and estrone in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis and healthy controls

	Low	Intermediate	High	Total
Estradiol^a
Controls	14	20	1	35
dcSSc	34	24	10	68
Total	48	44	11	103
Estrone^b
Controls	7	18	0	25
dcSSc	9	31	15	55
Total	16	49	15	80

^aLow (<5 pg/ml), intermediate (5 to 10 pg/ml), and high (>10 pg/ml); P = 0.04 for controls versus diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) using chi-square/Fisher's exact test. ^bLow (<15 pg/ml), intermediate (15 to 75 pg/ml), and high (>75 pg/ml); P = 0.006 for controls versus dcSSc using chi-square/Fisher's exact test.

ISSN: 1478-6362