2. Academic Validation
  3. Association of the asporin D14 allele with lumbar-disc degeneration in Asians

Association of the asporin D14 allele with lumbar-disc degeneration in Asians

  • Am J Hum Genet. 2008 Mar;82(3):744-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.12.017.
You-Qiang Song 1,  Kenneth M C Cheung,  Daniel W H Ho,  Sandy C S Poon,  Kazuhiro Chiba,  Yoshiharu Kawaguchi,  Yuichiro Hirose,  Mauro Alini,  Sibylle Grad,  Anita F Y Yee,  John C Y Leong,  Keith D K Luk,  Shea-Ping Yip,  Jaro Karppinen,  Kathryn S E Cheah,  Pak Sham,  Shiro Ikegawa,  Danny Chan
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Department of Biochemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
PMID: 18304494 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.12.017
Abstract

Lumbar-disc degeneration (LDD) is a polygenic disease. Susceptibility genes reported so far are mainly extracellular matrix proteins. D14 allele of asporin (ASPN) is associated with osteoarthritis (OA). Candidate-gene association studies showed that the D14 allele is also significantly associated with LDD in Chinese and Japanese individuals. Meta-analysis showed that individuals harboring a D14 allele had higher risk with a summary odds ratio of 1.70 (p = 0.000013). ASPN expression in vertebral discs increased with age and degeneration. Our results indicate ASPN is a LDD gene in Asians, and common risk factors may be considered for OA and LDD.

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