Yz. Bagger et al., No major effect of estrogen receptor gene polymorphisms on bone mineral density or bone loss in postmenopausal Danish women, BONE, 26(2), 2000, pp. 111-116
The polymorphisms of the estrogen receptor (ER) gene defined by the restric
tion enodonucleases PvuII and XbaI have recently been reported to be associ
ated with bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women, To investigat
e the possible relation of the PvuII and XbaI restriction fragment-length p
olymorphisms of the ER gene with BMD in Danish postmenopausal women, two st
udies were undertaken: 1) a cross-sectional study of 499 postmenopausal wom
en, where the ER genotypes and alleles were related to BMD of the hip, spin
e, and lower forearm; and 2) a longitudinal study of 101 postmenopausal wom
en followed up for 18 years. In the latter study, late postmenopausal bone
loss in the hip and spine was determined over a period of 6 years in women
(mean age of 63 to 69 Sears), and long-term postmenopausal bone loss in the
lower forearm was determined over a period of 18 years in women (mean age
of 51 to 69 years). Genotyping was performed through the restriction cleava
ge of polymerase chain reaction-amplified genomic DNA with the two restrict
ion enzymes, PvuII and XbaI, Restriction fragment-length polymorphisms were
represented as P or p (PvuII and X or x (XbaI), with the lower case letter
s signifying the presence of the restriction site. The frequencies of the E
R genotypes were similar to previously published genotype frequencies in Ca
ucasian and Asian populations. No significant effect of the ER genotypes or
alleles on BMD was found at any site, nor was there a relation between ER
genotypes and the rate of bone loss either in the hip and spine over 6 year
s, or in the lower forearm over 18 years. In conclusion,,ve could not demon
strate any major effect of the ER gene polymorphisms on BMD or rate of bone
loss in healthy postmenopausal Danish women. (C) 2000 by Elsevier Science
Inc. All rights reserved.