Cantú syndrome (CS) is characterized by congenital hypertrichosis, osteochondrodysplasia, cardiomegaly, and coarse facial appearance; autosomal recessive inheritance has been postulated. We report on a Mexican family with CS; the affected members are the 44-year-old father and his two children (a male and female), aged 14 and 4 years, respectively; each shows the classic characteristics, but the father and the brother also have a previously unreported feature, namely, a thick calvarium. This is the first reported instance of male-to-male transmission of CS. With the paternal age effect found in the reported sporadic cases and the segregation analysis [Robertson et al., 1999], autosomal dominant inheritance is more likely than autosomal recessive inheritance. The cases of affected sibs reported by Cantú et al. [1982] could be explained by parental gonadal mosaicism.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of mortality in the Republic of Mexico, and metabolic syndrome, a complex of CVD risk factors, is increasingly prevalent. To date, however, there have been few studies of the genetic epidemiology of metabolic syndrome in Mexico. As a first step in implementing the GEMM Family Study, a large, multicenter collaborative study, we recruited 375 individuals in 21 extended families, without ascertainment on disease, at 9 medical institutions across Mexico. Participants were measured for anthropometric (stature, weight, waist circumference) and hemodynamic (blood pressure, heart rate) phenotypes; glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels were measured in fasting blood. Variance components-based quantitative genetic analyses were performed using SOLAR. All phenotypes except diastolic blood pressure were significantly heritable. Consistent with the definition of metabolic syndrome, many phenotypes exhibited significant environmental correlation, and significant genetic correlations were found between measures of adiposity and fasting glucose and fasting triglyceride levels. These preliminary data represent the first heritability estimates for many of these phenotypes in the Republic of Mexico and indicate that this study design offers excellent power for future gene discovery relative to metabolic disease.

Estradiol and estriol could play a role as antioxidants for maternofetal autoprotection in addition to their hormonal activity, but this role could be preferentially exerted by estriol due to its higher concentrations exhibited during pregnancy. In vivo studies are necessary to shed light on this issue.

Objective. To evaluate the association between Haptoglobin (HP) gene polymorphisms with inflammatory status in obese subjects. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional study was carried out. A total of 276 apparently healthy men and nonpregnant obese women were enrolled and allocated according to the HP genotype into the HP 1/HP 1, HP 2/HP 1, and HP 2/HP 2 groups. Distribution of HP genotypes was 49, 87, and 140 for the HP 1/HP 1, HP 2/HP 1, and HP 2/HP 2, respectively. The HP genotype was determined using the polymerase chain reaction method. A multiple linear regression analysis adjusted by age, sex, waist circumference, and total body fat was used to determine the association between HP genotypes with TNF-α, IL-6, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels. Results. A multiple linear regression analysis adjusted by sex, waist circumference, and total body fat was performed showing a significant association between the HP 2/HP 2 genotype and TNF-α (β = 0.180; 95% CI 14.41–159.64, P = 0.01) and IL-6 (β = 0.188; 95% CI 1.53–12.72, P = 0.01) levels, but not with hsCRP (β = −0.008; 95% CI −1.64–1.47, P = 0.914) levels, whereas the HP 2/HP 1 genotype showed no association compared with the HP 1/HP 1 genotype (control group). Conclusion. Results of our study show that the HP 2/HP 2 genotype is associated with elevated TNF-α and IL-6, but not with hsCRP, levels in obese subjects.