{"entity": "researcher", "timestamp": "2026-08-20T20:30:34.939Z", "family": "Ek", "given": "Weronica E", "initials": "WE", "orcid": "0000-0003-2194-496X", "affiliations": ["Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden."], "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e"}}, "publications": [{"entity": "publication", "iuid": "b73b4aa99d6147469278a0f4e9f0fb6f", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/b73b4aa99d6147469278a0f4e9f0fb6f.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/b73b4aa99d6147469278a0f4e9f0fb6f"}}, "title": "Oral Contraceptives, Hormone Replacement Therapy, and Stroke Risk.", "authors": [{"family": "Johansson", "given": "Therese", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0003-1043-7065", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/d4005242bc4c45f6a0899226560837f8.json"}}, {"family": "Fowler", "given": "Philip", "initials": "P"}, {"family": "Ek", "given": "Weronica E", "initials": "WE", "orcid": "0000-0003-2194-496X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e.json"}}, {"family": "Skalkidou", "given": "Alkistis", "initials": "A", "orcid": "0000-0002-4935-7532", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/882f68bd159a46e5999dedb151bd7ea4.json"}}, {"family": "Karlsson", "given": "Torgny", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0001-8095-6149", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/c8b2bb8ecf4545ad946ae2203c870282.json"}}, {"family": "Johansson", "given": "\u00c5sa", "initials": "\u00c5", "orcid": "0000-0002-2915-4498", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/a0bac3e1e64949fcbac4b4d839e1144d.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2022-10-00", "journal": {"title": "Stroke", "issn": "1524-4628", "volume": "53", "issue": "10", "pages": "3107-3115", "issn-l": "0039-2499"}, "abstract": "Millions of women worldwide use exogenous hormones as oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy. Still, time-dependent and long-term consequences of exogenous hormones on stroke risk remains unclear.\n\nWe examined the association between self-reported oral contraceptive and hormone replacement therapy use and stroke risk in 257 194 women from the UK Biobank, born between 1939 and 1970. Outcomes included any type of stroke, ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Exposures were analyzed as time-varying variables in Cox regression models.\n\nDuring first year of oral contraceptive use, an increased event rate of any stroke was observed (hazard ratio [HR], 2.49 [95% CI, 1.44-4.30]), while the hazards were found to be comparable during remaining years of use (HR, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.86-1.14]), compared with nonusers. Similarly, first year of hormone replacement therapy use was associated with higher hazard rates of any stroke (HR, 2.12 [95% CI, 1.66-2.70]), as well as cause-specific stroke, including ischemic stroke (HR, 1.93 [95% CI, 1.05-3.57]) and subarachnoid hemorrhage (HR, 2.17 [95% CI, 1.25-3.78]), which remained increased for any stroke during remaining years of use (HR, 1.18 [95% CI, 1.05-1.31]), and after discontinuation (HR, 1.16 [95% CI, 1.02-1.32]).\n\nOral contraceptive use and hormone replacement therapy were associated with an increased risk of stroke, especially during the first year of use, possibly due to immediate changes in hemostatic balance. This study provides new insights on the effects of hormone exposure on stroke risk and provide evidence of not only an overall risk but also a pronounced effects seen in the beginning of treatment.", "doi": "10.1161/STROKEAHA.121.038659", "pmid": "35735009", "labels": [], "xrefs": [], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T12:16:19.528Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T12:16:19.615Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "9c28b188cadf4552899402edb0a046ca", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/9c28b188cadf4552899402edb0a046ca.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/9c28b188cadf4552899402edb0a046ca"}}, "title": "Investigating the Effect of Estradiol Levels on the Risk of Breast, Endometrial, and Ovarian Cancer.", "authors": [{"family": "Johansson", "given": "\u00c5sa", "initials": "\u00c5", "orcid": "0000-0002-2915-4498", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/a0bac3e1e64949fcbac4b4d839e1144d.json"}}, {"family": "Schmitz", "given": "Daniel", "initials": "D", "orcid": "0000-0003-4480-891X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/30e1b982f81a4c11ba59043beab3e4df.json"}}, {"family": "H\u00f6glund", "given": "Julia", "initials": "J", "orcid": "0000-0001-8061-3947", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/bca098a65a67444899762a18f654f447.json"}}, {"family": "Hadizadeh", "given": "Fatemeh", "initials": "F"}, {"family": "Karlsson", "given": "Torgny", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0001-8095-6149", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/c8b2bb8ecf4545ad946ae2203c870282.json"}}, {"family": "Ek", "given": "Weronica E", "initials": "WE", "orcid": "0000-0003-2194-496X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2022-08-01", "journal": {"title": "J Endocr Soc", "issn": "2472-1972", "volume": "6", "issue": "8", "pages": "bvac100", "issn-l": null}, "abstract": "High levels of estrogen are associated with increased risk of breast and endometrial cancer and have been suggested to also play a role in the development of ovarian cancer. Cancerogenic effects of estradiol, the most prominent form of estrogen, have been highlighted as a side effect of estrogen-only menopausal hormone therapy. However, whether high levels of endogenous estrogens, produced within the body, promote cancer development, has not been fully established.\n\nWe aimed to examine causal effects of estradiol on breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer.\n\nHere we performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to estimate the effect of endogenous estradiol on the risk of developing breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer, using the UK Biobank as well as 3 independent cancer cohorts.\n\nUsing 3 independent instrumental variables, we showed that higher estradiol levels significantly increase the risk for ovarian cancer (OR = 3.18 [95% CI, 1.47-6.87], P = 0.003). We also identified a nominally significant effect for ER-positive breast cancer (OR = 2.16 [95% CI, 1.09-4.26], P = 0.027). However, we could not establish a clear link to the risk of endometrial cancer (OR = 1.93 [95% CI, 0.77-4.80], P = 0.160).\n\nOur results suggest that high estradiol levels promote the development of ovarian and ER-positive breast cancer.", "doi": "10.1210/jendso/bvac100", "pmid": "35822202", "labels": [], "xrefs": [{"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC9265484"}, {"db": "pii", "key": "bvac100"}], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T12:38:02.155Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T12:38:02.276Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "fa0b5a942cac4aa9a1081b3d37781d5a", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/fa0b5a942cac4aa9a1081b3d37781d5a.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/fa0b5a942cac4aa9a1081b3d37781d5a"}}, "title": "Characterization of the human ABO genotypes and their association to common inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases in the UK Biobank.", "authors": [{"family": "H\u00f6glund", "given": "Julia", "initials": "J", "orcid": "0000-0001-8061-3947", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/bca098a65a67444899762a18f654f447.json"}}, {"family": "Karlsson", "given": "Torgny", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0001-8095-6149", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/c8b2bb8ecf4545ad946ae2203c870282.json"}}, {"family": "Johansson", "given": "Therese", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0003-1043-7065", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/d4005242bc4c45f6a0899226560837f8.json"}}, {"family": "Ek", "given": "Weronica E", "initials": "WE", "orcid": "0000-0003-2194-496X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e.json"}}, {"family": "Johansson", "given": "\u00c5sa", "initials": "\u00c5", "orcid": "0000-0002-2915-4498", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/a0bac3e1e64949fcbac4b4d839e1144d.json"}}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2021-11-01", "journal": {"title": "Am. J. Hematol.", "issn": "1096-8652", "volume": "96", "issue": "11", "pages": "1350-1362", "issn-l": "0361-8609"}, "abstract": "The ABO gene contains three major alleles that encodes different antigens; A, B, and O, which determine an individual's blood group. Previous studies have primarily focused on identifying associations between ABO blood groups and diseases risk. Here, we sought to test for association between ABO genotypes (OO, OA, AA; OB, BB, and AB) and a large set of common inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases in UK Biobank as well as disease-related protein biomarkers in NSPHS. We first tested for association by conducting a likelihood ratio test, testing whether ABO contributed significantly to the risk for 24 diseases, and 438 plasma proteins. For phenotypes with FDR < 0.05, we tested for pair-wise differences between genetically determined ABO genotypes using logistic or linear regression. Our study confirmed previous findings of a strong association between ABO and cardiovascular disease, identified associations for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and provide additional evidence of significant differences between heterozygous and homozygous allele carriers for pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, but also for von Willebrand factor levels. Furthermore, the results indicated an additive effect between genotypes, even between the two most common A subgroups, A1 and A2. Additionally, we found that ABO contributed significantly to 39 plasma proteins, of which 23 have never been linked to the ABO locus before. These results show the need of incorporating ABO genotype information in the consultation and management of patients at risk, rather than classifying patients into blood groups.", "doi": "10.1002/ajh.26307", "pmid": "34329492", "labels": [], "xrefs": [], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T06:28:27.189Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T06:28:27.447Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "ccde0047e11040639ea48759cfbf0c9c", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/ccde0047e11040639ea48759cfbf0c9c.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/ccde0047e11040639ea48759cfbf0c9c"}}, "title": "Genome-Wide Association Study of Estradiol Levels, and the Causal Effect of Estradiol on Bone Mineral Density", "authors": [{"family": "Schmitz", "given": "Daniel", "initials": "D", "orcid": "0000-0003-4480-891X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/30e1b982f81a4c11ba59043beab3e4df.json"}}, {"family": "Ek", "given": "Weronica E", "initials": "WE", "orcid": "0000-0003-2194-496X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e.json"}}, {"family": "Berggren", "given": "Elin", "initials": "E"}, {"family": "H\u00f6glund", "given": "Julia", "initials": "J", "orcid": "0000-0001-8061-3947", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/bca098a65a67444899762a18f654f447.json"}}, {"family": "Karlsson", "given": "Torgny", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0001-8095-6149", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/c8b2bb8ecf4545ad946ae2203c870282.json"}}, {"family": "Johansson", "given": "\u00c5sa", "initials": "\u00c5", "orcid": "0000-0002-2915-4498", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/a0bac3e1e64949fcbac4b4d839e1144d.json"}}], "type": "posted-content", "published": "2021-07-05", "journal": {"issn-l": null}, "abstract": null, "doi": "10.1101/2021.07.01.21259826", "pmid": null, "labels": [], "xrefs": [], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T10:05:23.953Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T10:05:24.068Z"}, {"entity": "publication", "iuid": "6b03af917620450ea7c6627f89fa7db2", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/6b03af917620450ea7c6627f89fa7db2.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/6b03af917620450ea7c6627f89fa7db2"}}, "title": "The contribution of rare whole genome sequencing variants to plasma protein levels and to the missing heritability", "authors": [{"family": "Kierczak", "given": "Marcin", "initials": "M", "orcid": "0000-0003-2629-5655", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/da6834c3cedf4ea1b20b659316b45eb2.json"}}, {"family": "Rafati", "given": "Nima", "initials": "N"}, {"family": "H\u00f6glund", "given": "Julia", "initials": "J", "orcid": "0000-0001-8061-3947", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/bca098a65a67444899762a18f654f447.json"}}, {"family": "Gourle", "given": "Hadrien", "initials": "H", "orcid": "0000-0001-9807-1082", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/d5485a48dfde4e53b14d39c54f2b2483.json"}}, {"family": "Schmitz", "given": "Daniel", "initials": "D", "orcid": "0000-0003-4480-891X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/30e1b982f81a4c11ba59043beab3e4df.json"}}, {"family": "Ek", "given": "Weronica", "initials": "W", "orcid": "0000-0003-2194-496X", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/8172f56f87554938a75cef7505f8603e.json"}}, {"family": "Enroth", "given": "Stefan", "initials": "S", "orcid": "0000-0002-5056-9137", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/ae9be8ef3b1145239a4e0231e2a148cd.json"}}, {"family": "Ekman", "given": "Diana", "initials": "D"}, {"family": "Nystedt", "given": "Bj\u00f6rn", "initials": "B", "orcid": "0000-0001-7809-7664", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/33ba67b99d2b477d9588d40e8cc0fed2.json"}}, {"family": "Karlsson", "given": "Torgny", "initials": "T", "orcid": "0000-0001-8095-6149", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/c8b2bb8ecf4545ad946ae2203c870282.json"}}, {"family": "Johansson", "given": "\u00c5sa", "initials": "\u00c5", "orcid": "0000-0002-2915-4498", "researcher": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/researcher/a0bac3e1e64949fcbac4b4d839e1144d.json"}}], "type": "posted-content", "published": "2021-06-21", "journal": {"issn-l": null}, "abstract": null, "doi": "10.21203/rs.3.rs-625433/v1", "pmid": null, "labels": [], "xrefs": [], "notes": [], "created": "2026-08-20T12:59:43.170Z", "modified": "2026-08-20T12:59:43.262Z"}]}