Genome-wide association study for femoral neck bone geometry

Poor femoral neck bone geometry at the femur is an important risk factor for hip fracture. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of femoral neck bone geometry, examining approximately 379,000 eligible single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1000 Caucasians. A common genetic variant, rs7430431 in the receptor transporting protein 3 (RTP3) gene, was identified in strong association with the buckling ratio (BR, P=1.6 × 10^-7), an index of bone structural instability, and with femoral cortical thickness (CT, P=1.9 × 10^-6). The RTP3 gene is located in 3p21.31, a region that we found to be linked with CT (LOD=2.19, P=6.0 × 10^-4) in 3998 individuals from 434 pedigrees. The replication analyses in 1488 independent Caucasians and 2118 Chinese confirmed the association of rs7430431 to BR and CT (combined P=7.0 × 10^-3 for BR and P=1.4 × 10^-2 for CT). In addition, 350 hip fracture patients and 350 healthy control individuals were genotyped to assess the association of the RTP3 gene with the risk of hip fracture. Significant association between a nearby common SNP, rs10514713 of the RTP3 gene, and hip fracture ( P=1.0 × 10 ^-3) was found. Our observations suggest that RTP3 may be a novel candidate gene for femoral neck bone geometry.