WASHINGTON (AFP) - Icelandic researchers have identified variations of a gene involved in bone formation which when present increases by 300 percent the risk of being hit with osteoporosis, according to a new study.
Three types of variations of the gene called BMP2 seem to increase the risk of developing the disease according to researchers with the Icelandic firm Decode who based their findings on hundreds of people with osteoporosis.
Scientists identified 207 families with several members suffering from the illness, and found similarities in a zone of chromosome 20 containing six known genes of which four are involved in bone formation.
Scientists "screened the genomes of 705 individuals with osteoporosis in a case-control study using closely spaced genetic markers within the region of interest," they said in a statement.
"This analysis pointed to BMP2 as the most likely candidate, an enticing finding because BMP2 is known to be involved in bone development."
"At-risk haploytpes, or versions of the BMP2 gene, were shown to approximately triple the likelihood of developing the disease," they said in the study published in the Public Library of Science review.
Osteoporosis hits 20-30 percent of post-menopausal women and 50 percent of women over the age of 60, dramatically increasing their risk of bone fractures. About 13 percent of men develop the disease starting in their 50s.
