ORIGINAL ARTICLE The association between genetic variants of RUNX2, ADIPOQ and vertebral fracture in Korean postmenopausal women Kyong-Chol Kim • Hyejin Chun • ChaoQiang Lai • Laurence D. Parnell • Yangsoo Jang • Jongho Lee • Jose. M. Ordovas Received: 30 August 2013 / Accepted: 16 January 2014 Ó The Japanese Society for Bone and Mineral Research and Springer Japan 2014 Abstract Contrary to the traditional belief that obesity acts as a protective factor for bone, recent epidemiologic studies have shown that body fat might be a risk factor for osteoporosis and bone fracture. Accordingly, we evaluated the association between the phenotypes of osteoporosis or vertebral fracture and variants of obesity-related genes, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPARG), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2), leptin receptor (LEPR), and adiponectin (ADIPOQ). In total, 907 postmenopausal healthy women, aged 60–79 years, were included in this study. BMD and bio- markers of bone health and adiposity were measured. We genotyped for four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from four genes (PPARG, RUNX2, LEPR, ADI- POQ). A general linear model for continuous dependent variables and a logistic regression model for categorical dependent variables were used to analyze the statistical differences among genotype groups. Compared with the TT subjects at rs7771980 in RUNX2, C-carrier (TC ? CC) subjects had a lower vertebral fracture risk after adjusting for age, smoking, alcohol, total calorie intake, total energy expenditure, total calcium intake, total fat intake, weight, body fat. Odds ratio (OR) and 95 % interval (CI) for the vertebral fracture risk was 0.55 (95 % CI 0.32–0.94). After adjusting for multiple variables, the prevalence of vertebral fracture was highest in GG subjects at rs1501299 in ADI- POQ (p = 0.0473). A high calcium intake ( [ 1000 mg/ day) contributed to a high bone mineral density (BMD) in GT ? TT subjects at rs1501299 in ADIPOQ (p for inter- action = 0.0295). Even if the mechanisms between obes- ity-related genes and bone health are not fully established, the results of our study revealed the association of certain SNPs from obesity-related genes with BMD or vertebral fracture risk in postmenopausal Korean women. Keywords Polymorphisms Á Runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) Á Adiponectin (ADIPOQ) Á Osteoporosis Á Vertebral fracture Introduction Although recent epidemiologic studies have shown that bone mineral density (BMD) is higher in overweight/obese subjects, several studies strongly have shown that body fat might be a risk factor of osteoporosis and bone fracture [1–3]. In addition, increasing evidence demonstrates that fat mass is negatively related to lower bone mineral density [4–6]. Zhao et al. [6] showed that when adjusted for the mechanical loading effect of body weight on bone mass, fat mass is negatively correlated with bone mass in both Chinese and Caucasians. Osteoblasts and adipocytes are derived from the same mesenchymal marrow stroma/stem cells (mMSC) [7]. For a mesenchymal stem cell to become K.-C. Kim (&) Department of Family Medicine, Chaum Hospital, Cha University, Seoul, Korea e-mail: joyks71@gmail.com H. Chun Health Promotion Center, Ewha Woman’s University Mokdong Hospital Ewha Woman’s University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea C. Lai Á L. D. Parnell Á Jose. M. Ordovas Nutritional Genomics Lab, Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory, JM-USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA Y. Jang Á J. Lee Graduate Program in Science for Aging, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea 123 J Bone Miner Metab DOI 10.1007/s00774-014-0570-1