title: Association of radial bone mineral density with CA repeat polymorphism at the interleukin 6 locus in postmenopausal Japanese women.
abstract: Twin studies have shown strong correlations between bone mass and genetic factors. Some of the genes involved could regulate bone metabolism and bone formation and resorption, all processes that determine bone mass. One candidate gene, interleukin 6 (IL-6), has been implicated in the pathogenesis of bone loss because it stimulates osteoclasts. We investigated a possible association between the CA repeat polymorphism at the IL-6 gene locus and the bone mineral density (BMD) of radial bone in 472 postmenopausal Japanese women. Genotypes were classified into six groups according to the number of CA repeats present, from 13 to 18. BMD was expressed as adjusted BMD, which was the body mass index (BMI)- and age-adjusted average BMD. The 73 women who possessed an A1 allele (134 bp, containing 18 repeats of CA) had significantly lower adjusted BMD than those participants (n = 399) who did not carry an allele of that size (mean +/- SD values, 0.294 +/- 0.064 vs 0.312 +/- 0.061 g/cm2; P = 0.0221). This result suggests that genetic variation at the IL-6 gene locus is associated with some determinants of BMD in postmenopausal women.
mesh_terms: D000227:Adenine Nucleotides; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D015519:Bone Density; D003597:Cytosine Nucleotides; D018900:Dinucleotide Repeats; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics*; D007564:Japan; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000235:genetics*