Abstract
BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis is a highly heritable trait. Among the genes associated with bone mineral density (BMD), the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 gene (LRP5) has been consistently identified in Caucasians. However LRP5 contribution to osteoporosis in populations of other ethnicities remains poorly known. METHODS: To determine whether LRP5 polymorphisms Ala1330Val and Val667Met are associated with BMD in North Africans, these genotypes were analyzed in 566 post-menopausal Tunisian women with mean age of 59.5 ± 7 .7 years, of which 59.1% have low bone mass (T-score<-1 at spine or hip). RESULTS: In post-menopausal Tunisian women, 1330Val was weakly associated with reduced BMD T-score at lumbar spine (p=0.047) but not femur neck. Moreover, the TT/TC genotypes tended to be more frequent in women with osteopenia and osteoporosis than in women with normal BMD (p=0.066). Adjusting for body size and other potential confounders, LRP5 genotypes were no longer significantly associated with aBMD at any site. CONCLUSIONS: The less common Val667Met polymorphism showed no association with osteoporosis. The Ala1330Val polymorphism is weakly associated with lower lumbar spine bone density and osteopenia/osteoporosis in postmenopausal Tunisian women. These observations expand our knowledge about the contribution of LRP5 genetic variation to osteoporosis risk in populations of diverse ethnic origin.