BoneKEy Reports | BoneKEy Watch
SNPs could predict fracture risk in Chinese postmenopausal women
DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2012.199
A total of 113 SNPs from 16 osteoporosis susceptibility genes were assessed to determine whether they were associated with postmenopausal osteoporotic fractures in Chinese women. Some, but not all, of these genes have already been shown to produce variants that are linked with osteoporosis in East-Asian and European populations, and more information was required to improve the predictions of fracture risk in Chinese women.
Osteoporotic fractures were found to be associated with several SNPs: rs3102734 in the TNFRSF11B gene; rs9397448, rs2234693 and rs1643821 in the ESR1 gene; rs17790156 and rs898604 in the LRP4 gene and rs2971886, rs2941583, rs2941584 and rs12475342 in the SPTBN1 gene. Of these, rs3102734 showed the greatest association with increased risk with an odds ratio of 1.35 [95% CI: 1.17–1.55, Bonferroni-adjusted P=2.6×10−4].
Of the different SNPs, some showed a greater association with vertebral fractures while others showed more significant associations with hip fractures or distal radius fractures. The authors suggest that the SNPs identified should be added into the mix of clinical risk factures currently used to predict fracture risk in Chinese women after the menopause.
Editor's comment: This replication study of potential genetic loci for osteoporotic fracture in the Asian population is of great importance. Further studies are now needed to discover how these gene variants impact on the underlying processes that lead to osteoporotic degeneration.
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