Polymorphisms of the WNT16 gene are associated with the heel ultrasound parameter in young adults

Amoli M, Fana SE, Dimai HP, Obermayer-Pietsch B, Luegger B, Rivadeneira F, Nabipour I, Larijani B, Khashayar P. Protocol for preliminary, multicenteric validation of "PoCOsteo device": A point of care tool for proteomic and genomic study of osteoporosis

One of the goals of the HORIZON 2020 project PoCOsteo was to develop a medical device, which would measure and/or quantify proteomic as well as genomic factors as present in whole blood samples collected through finger prick. After validating the tool in the clinical setting, the next step would be its clinical validation based on the existing guidelines. This article presents the protocol of a validation study to be carried out independently at two different centers (Division of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the Medical University of Graz as a clinic-based cohort, and the Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences as a population-based cohort). It aims to assess the tool according to the Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines, confirming if the proteomics and genomics measurements provided by the tool are accurate and reproducible compared with the existing state-of-the-art tests. This is the first time that such a detailed protocol for lab validation of a medical tool for proteomics and genomic measurement is designed based on the existing guidelines and thus could be used as a template for clinical validation of future point-of-care tools. Moreover, the multicentric cohort design will allow the study of a large number of diverse individuals, which will improve the validity and generalizability of the results for different settings.

Associations Between Body Mass Index, WNT16 rs2908004 and Osteoporosis: Findings from Taiwan Biobank

Purpose

Osteoporosis is a degenerative disease that affects women and men of all races. We studied the association between body mass index (BMI), rs2908004 polymorphism of the WNT16 gene, and osteoporosis using data from Taiwan Biobank (TWB).

Patients and Methods

We analyzed data from 10,942 subjects aged 30 to 70. We defined osteoporosis based on a mean T-score of -2.5 and below in the hip. Body mass index was classified following the guidelines of the Health Promotion Administration. Imputation was carried out using the IMPUTE2 (v2.3.1) program. Multiple logistic regression was used for analysis. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for osteoporosis were determined.

Results

In the multivariate regression model, variant rs2908004 had a significant association with osteoporosis. That is, the rs2908004-GA+AA genotype was associated with lower osteoporosis risk than the GG genotype (OR, 0.651; 95% CI = 0.544 to 0.780). Compared to normal-weight, underweight was significantly associated with a higher risk of osteoporosis (OR, 6.517; 95% CI = 4.624 to 9.186) while overweight and obesity were protective (OR, 0.176; 95% CI = 0.140 to 0.221 and 0.057; 95% CI = 0.039 to 0.083, respectively). There was an interaction between rs2908004 and BMI (p = 0.0148). Subgroup analyses (using rs2908004-GG/normal-weight as the reference group) indicated ORs of 7.66 (95% CI = 5.153 to 11.394) in the rs2908004-GG/underweight group and 3.002 (95% CI = 1.509 to 5.974) in the rs2908004-GA+AA/underweight group (95% CI = 1.509 to 5.974). Odds ratios were substantially lower in rs2908004-GG/obese, rs2908004-GG/overweight, GA+AA/normal-weight, rs2908004-GA+AA/overweight, and rs2908004-GA+AA/obese groups, respectively.

Conclusion

According to our study, underweight was associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis irrespective of WNT16 rs2908004 genotypes, while overweight and obesity were associated with a lower risk.

Genetic variation in WNT16 and its association with bone mineral density, fractures and osteoporosis in children with bone fragility

Several genome-wide association studies (GWAS), GWAS meta-analyses, and mouse studies have demonstrated that wingless-related integration site 16 (WNT16) gene is associated with bone mineral density (BMD), cortical bone thickness, bone strength and fracture risk. Practically no data exist regarding the significance of WNT16 in childhood-onset osteoporosis and related fractures. We hypothesized that pathogenic variants and genetic variations in WNT16 could explain skeletal fragility in affected children. We screened the WNT16 gene by Sanger sequencing in three pediatric cohorts: 35 with primary osteoporosis, 59 with multiple fractures, and in 95 healthy controls. Altogether, we identified 12 variants in WNT16. Of them one was a rare 5′UTR variant rs1386898215 in genome aggregate and medical trans-omic databases (GnomAD, TOPMED; minor allele frequency (MAF) 0.00 and 0.000008, respectively). One variant rs1554366753, overrepresented in children with osteoporosis (MAF = 0.06 vs healthy controls MAF = 0.01), was significantly associated with lower BMD. This variant was found associated with increased WNT16 gene expression at mRNA level in fibroblast cultures. None of the other identified variants were rare (MAF < 0.001) or deemed pathogenic by predictor programs. WNT16 may play a role in childhood osteoporosis but genetic WNT16 variation is not a common cause of skeletal fragility in childhood.

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No pathogenic WNT16 variants were found associated with pediatric osteoporosis or fracture-prone patients

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Altogether, twelve WNT16 variants were found in pediatric osteoporosis or fracture-prone patients

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The genetic variation rs1554366753 in the WNT16 gene is associated with bone mineral density and primary osteoporosis

Wnt16 signaling in bone homeostasis and osteoarthristis

Wnts are secreted cysteine-rich glycoproteins involved in joint development and skeletal homeostasis and have been implicated in the occurrence of osteoarthritis. Over the past decade, Wnt16, a member of the Wnt family, has received widespread attention for its strong association with bone mineral density, cortical bone thickness, bone strength, and osteoporotic fracture risk. In recent years, further studies have shed light on the role of Wnt16 a positive regulator of bone mass and protective regulator of osteoarthritis progression. Transduction mechanisms and crosstalk involving Wnt16 signaling have also been illustrated. More importantly, local Wnt16 treatment has been shown to ease osteoarthritis, inhibit bone resorption, and promote new bone formation in bone defect models. Thus, Wnt16 is now a potential therapeutic target for skeletal diseases and osteoarthritis. This paper reviews our current understanding of the mechanisms by which Wnt16 signaling regulates bone homeostasis and osteoarthritis.

USF3 modulates osteoporosis risk by targeting WNT16, RANKL, RUNX2, and two GWAS lead SNPs rs2908007 and rs4531631

Osteoporotic fractures cause major morbidity and mortality in the aging population. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified USF3 as the novel susceptibility gene of osteoporosis. However, the functional role in bone metabolism and the target gene of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor USF3 are unclear. Here, we show that USF3 enhances osteoblast differentiation and suppresses osteoclastogenesis in cultured human osteoblast-like U-2OS cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that transcription factor USF3 antagonistically interacts with anti-osteogenic TWIST1/TCF12 heterodimer in the WNT16 and RUNX2 promoter, and counteracts CREB1 and JUN/FOS in the RANKL promoter. Importantly, the osteoporosis GWAS variant g.1744A>G (rs2908007A>G) located in the WNT16 promoter confers G-allele-specific transcriptional modulation by USF3, TWIST1/TCF12 and TBX5/TBX15, and USF3 transactivates the osteoclastogenesis suppressor WNT16 promoter activity and antagonizes the repression of WNT16 by TWIST1 and TCF12. The risk G allele of osteoporosis GWAS variant g.3260A>G (rs4531631A>G) in the RANKL promoter facilitates the binding of CREB1 and JUN/FOS and enhances transactivation of the osteoclastogenesis contributor RANKL that is inhibited by USF3. Our findings uncovered the functional mechanisms of osteoporosis novel GWAS-associated gene USF3 and lead single nucleotide polymorphisms rs2908007 and rs4531631 in the regulation of bone formation and resorption.

Regulatory Fluctuation of WNT16 Gene Expression Is Associated with Human Gastric Adenocarcinoma

INTRODUCTION

Gastric cancer is one of the most serious and lethal kinds of cancer in the world. It is a multi-step, multi-factor, and elaborated process that is associated to gene abnormal expression. This study intended to investigate the WNT16 gene's expression in human gastric tumor and the margin tissues of the stomach (normal tissues).

METHODS

Correspondingly, 40 samples (20 tumoral tissues and 20 non tumoral or margins tissues) were investigated in Imam Khomeini Hospital in Sari City, Mazandaran Province, Iran. In this way, real-time PCR, Taqman assay was employed to evaluate the upregulation and downregulation of this gene in both tissues in triplicate form. The GAPDH gene was selected as housekeeping gene.

RESULTS

Conspicuously, the results have shown a remarkable modification in tumoral tissues, and the gene expression increased significantly in tumoral tissue.

CONCLUSIONS

Conclusively, the upregulation of WNTt16 gene expression in tumoral tissues was impressive and the P value was 0.005 and the SE range was 0.064-142.154.

Common and rare variants of WNT16, DKK1 and SOST and their relationship with bone mineral density

Numerous GWAS and candidate gene studies have highlighted the role of the Wnt pathway in bone biology. Our objective has been to study in detail the allelic architecture of three Wnt pathway genes: WNT16, DKK1 and SOST, in the context of osteoporosis. We have resequenced the coding and some regulatory regions of these three genes in two groups with extreme bone mineral density (BMD) (n = ∼50, each) from the BARCOS cohort. No interesting novel variants were identified. Thirteen predicted functional variants have been genotyped in the full cohort (n = 1490), and for ten of them (with MAF > 0.01), the association with BMD has been studied. We have found six variants nominally associated with BMD, of which 2 WNT16 variants predicted to be eQTLs for FAM3C (rs55710688, in the Kozak sequence and rs142005327, within a putative enhancer) withstood multiple-testing correction. In addition, two rare variants in functional regions (rs190011371 in WNT16b 3′UTR and rs570754792 in the SOST TATA box) were found only present in three women each, all with BMD below the mean of the cohort. Our results reinforce the higher importance of regulatory versus coding variants in these Wnt pathway genes and open new ways for functional studies of the relevant variants.

AKAP11 gene polymorphism is associated with bone mass measured by quantitative ultrasound in young adults

Background: Due to the increased prevalence of osteoporosis and direct health care cost of osteoporosis-related fractures, there is a growing interest in identifying genetic markers associated with osteoporosis phenotypes in order to develop genetic screening strategies. We aimed to analyze the possible associations between calcaneal Quantitative ultrasound (QUS), a valuable screening tool for assessing bone status in clinical practice, and ZBTB40 (rs7524102, rs6426749), SP7 (rs2016266) and AKAP11 (rs9533090) genes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 550 healthy individuals of Caucasian ancestry (381 females and 169 males, median age 20.46±2,69). Bone mass was assessed through QUS to determine broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA, dB/MHz). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ZBTB40 (rs7524102, rs6426749), SP7 (rs2016266) and AKAP11 (rs9533090) were selected as genetic markers and genotyped using TaqMan OpenArray® technology. Results: Linear regression analysis revealed that rs7524102 and rs6426749 in ZBTB40, and rs9533090 in AKAP11 were significantly associated with the calcaneal QUS parameter after adjustments for age, sex, weight, height, physical activity, and calcium intake (p=0.038, p=0.012 and p=0.008, respectively). After applying the Bonferroni correction for multiple testing (p=0.012), only the association of rs9533090 in AKAP11 remained significant. Conclusion:AKAP11 gene (rs9533090) influences QUS trait in a population of Caucasian young adults. The rs9533090 SNP may be considered a factor affecting peak bone mass acquisition.

The RSPO3 gene as genetic markers for bone mass assessed by quantitative ultrasound in a population of young adults

Ultrasound bone mass measurement has been postulated as a valuable bone-health assessment tool for primary care. The aim of this study was to analyse the possible relationship between the SPTBN1, RSPO3, CCDC170, DKK1, GPATCH1, and TMEM135 genes, with calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) in a population of young adults. These genes were first associated with broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) in the GEFOS/GENOMOS study. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 575 individuals (mean age 20.41 ± 2.69). Bone mass at the right calcaneus was estimated by QUS. Six single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SPTBN1 (rs11898505), RSPO3 (rs7741021), CCDC170 (rs4869739), DKK1 (rs7902708), TMEM135 (rs597319), and GPATCH1 (rs10416265) were selected as genetic markers based on their previous association with calcaneal QUS. After adjusting for multiple confounding factors, the only significant association with QUS in our population was found for the rs7741021 SNP in the RSPO3 gene (P = 0.006) using the dominant model of inheritance. This suggests the possible implication of the RSPO3 gene in bone mass acquisition during early adulthood.

Analysis of SNP-SNP interactions and bone quantitative ultrasound parameter in early adulthood

Background

Osteoporosis individual susceptibility is determined by the interaction of multiple genetic variants and environmental factors. The aim of this study was to conduct SNP-SNP interaction analyses in candidate genes influencing heel quantitative ultrasound (QUS) parameter in early adulthood to identify novel insights into the mechanism of disease.

Methods

The study population included 575 healthy subjects (mean age 20.41; SD 2.36). To assess bone mass QUS was performed to determine Broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA, dB/MHz). A total of 32 SNPs mapping to loci that have been characterized as genetic markers for QUS and/or BMD parameters were selected as genetic markers in this study. The association of all possible SNP pairs with QUS was assessed by linear regression and a SNP-SNP interaction was defined as a significant departure from additive effects.

Results

The pairwise SNP-SNP analysis showed multiple interactions. The interaction comprising SNPs rs9340799 and rs3736228 that map in the ESR1 and LRP5 genes respectively, revealed the lowest p value after adjusting for confounding factors (p-value = 0.001, β (95% CI) = 14.289 (5.548, 23.029). In addition, our model reported others such as TMEM135-WNT16 (p = 0.007, β(95%CI) = 9.101 (2.498, 15.704), ESR1-DKK1 (p = 0.012, β(95%CI) = 13.641 (2.959, 24.322) or OPG-LRP5 (p = 0.012, β(95%CI) = 8.724 (1.936, 15.512). However, none of the detected interactions remain significant considering the Bonferroni significance threshold for multiple testing (p<0.0001).

Conclusion

Our analysis of SNP-SNP interaction in candidate genes of QUS in Caucasian young adults reveal several interactions, especially between ESR1 and LRP5 genes, that did not reach statistical significance. Although our results do not support a relevant genetic contribution of SNP-SNP epistatic interactions to QUS in young adults, further studies in larger independent populations would be necessary to support these preliminary findings.

RANKL/RANK/OPG Polymorphisms and Heel Quantitative Ultrasound in Young Adults

BACKGROUND

The receptor activator of the nuclear factor-kappa B ligand (RANKL), the receptor activator of nuclear factor-kappa B (RANK), and the osteoprotegerin (OPG) signaling pathway play an important role in the regulation of bone remodeling and osteoclast differentiation. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is a relatively recent and noninvasive method providing structural information on microstructure, bone elasticity, and connectivity. However, in contrast to bone mineral density measurements, the possible association of the RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway with heel QUS has not been analyzed.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to assess, for the first time, the contribution of the RANKL/RANK/OPG pathway genes in the genetic background of heel QUS parameters.

METHODS

Ten single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of RANKL (rs9594759, rs12585014, rs7988338, rs2148073), RANK (rs1805034, rs12458117, rs3018362), and OPG (rs4355801, rs3102735, rs2073618) were selected as genetic markers and genotyped using Open Array technology in 575 self-reported Caucasian individuals aged 18-25. Bone mass in the right calcaneus was estimated with QUS to obtain the broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA) measurement (dB/MHz). Linear regression analyses were performed to test the possible association between the SNPs and BUA.

RESULTS

Linear regression analysis of all the tested SNPs revealed no significant association with the BUA parameter after adjusting for age, gender, weight, height, physical activity, and calcium intake. The lowest p-value was observed for the rs9594759 RANKL polymorphism and heel QUS (p = .06; b* = -.075, 95% CI [-0.960, 0.028]).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that the polymorphism of the RANKL, RANK, and OPG genes does not make a significant genetic contribution to heel ultrasound measurements in a population of young Caucasian adults. Further studies replicating the results in independent populations are needed to support these initial findings.

Genetic risk score based on the prevalence of vertebral fracture in Japanese women with osteoporosis

A genetic risk score (GRS) was developed for predicting fracture risk based on the prevalence of vertebral fractures in 441 Japanese females with osteoporosis. A total of 979 (858 nonsynonymous and 121 silent) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in 74 osteoporosis-susceptibility genes were genotyped and evaluated for their association with fracture prevalence. Four SNPs (protein kinase domain containing, cytoplasmic [PKDCC; rs4952590], CDK5-regulatory subunit-associated protein 1-like 1 [CDKAL1; rs4712556], wingless-type MMTV-integration site family member 16 [WNT16; rs2707466], and G-patch domain-containing gene 1 [GPATCH1; rs10416265]) showed a significant association (p < 0.05) with the fracture, in which the minor allele of the former two SNPs was the protective allele and that of the latter two SNPs was the risk allele. Applying a dominant-genetic model, we allotted − 1 point each to the protective-allele carriers and 1 point each to the risk-allele carriers, and GRS values were calculated as the sum of the points. The receiver-operating characteristic curves showed that GRS adequately predicted vertebral fracture. For the model predicted by the GRS with and without the effect of age, areas under the curves were 0.788 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.736–0.840) and 0.667 (95% CI: 0.599–0.735), respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds ratio for the association between fracture prevalence and GRS was 3.27 (95% CI: 1.36–7.87, p = 0.008) for scores of − 1 to 0 (n = 303) and 12.12 (95% CI: 4.19–35.07, p < 0.001) for scores of 1 to 2 (n = 35) relative to a score of − 2 (n = 103). The GRS based on the four SNPs could help identify at-risk individuals and enable implementation of preventive measures for vertebral fracture.

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A genetic risk score to predict fracture risk based on vertebral fracture prevalence is proposed.

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Four single-nucleotide polymorphisms showed significant association with fracture.

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This method helps identify at-risk individuals and promotes preventive measures for fractures.