Study explores genetics of vitamin D deficiency in Mexico

22-Oct-2018 - Last updated on 22-Oct-2018 at 21:12 GMT

In a first of its kind study, scientists from Mexico have identified polymorphisms on two genes that may explain the high prevalence of deficiency in the country.

Data published in Nutrients indicated that polymorphisms on the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the vitamin D binding protein (GC) genes are associated with vitamin D deficiency in postmenopausal women.

“These results suggest an important role for genetic variants in the high prevalence of [vitamin D] deficiency observed in a sunny country with a strong indigenous ethnic background, such as Mexico,” wrote the authors, led by Berenice Rivera-Paredez from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study identifying the association of GC and VDR variants with VD deficiency in Mexican postmenopausal women. Vitamin D-binding protein (VDBP) is encoded by the GC gene. It binds to VD sterol metabolites for transporting them through the circulatory system towards target organs,” they added.

“In this study, the tag SNP rs2282679 on GC was associated with VD deficiency. Furthermore, we found almost a two fold risk increment for having VD deficiency in women who were homozygous for the G allele in the GC polymorphism rs2282679.”

Study details

The researchers analyzed genetic data and vitamin D deficiency in 689 unrelated Mexican postmenopausal women. Almost 40% of the women were vitamin D deficient.

The data indicated that two SNPs were associated with vitamin D deficiency: rs4516035 in VDR and rs2282679 in GC.

In addition, the researchers found that the rs4516035-C allele frequency in the Amerindian population was “enriched in the South East region of Mexico”, while the highest frequency of the rs2298850-C allele (described as a proxy for the rs2282679), was observed in the South region.

“Our results indicate that genetic variants in VDR and GC genes are associated with [vitamin D] deficiency in Mexican postmenopausal women. Moreover, an association was observed for the variants rs3794060 and rs4944957 of the DHCR7/NADSYN1 gene with osteopenia/osteoporosis,” they concluded.

Source: Nutrients
2018, 10(9), 1175; doi:10.3390/nu10091175
“Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Vitamin D Receptor and GC Genes and Analysis of Their Distribution in Mexican Postmenopausal Women”
Authors: B. Rivera-Paredez et al.