BACKGROUND: Congenital scoliosis (CS) is caused by the abnormal development of embryonic spinal vertebrae, and its genetic etiology hypothesis has begun to attract the attention of many scholars.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether polymorphisms of LMX1A gene are associated with CS in a Chinese Han population, and further, to study the relationship between polymorphisms of LMX1A and the clinical phenotypes of CS.
METHODS: A total of 127 patients diagnosed with CS and the scoliosis-free control subjects (127 cases) were enrolled in this study. Genomic Based on genotype data from the International HapMap project, the key single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) initially were selected using Haploview 4.1 software. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium both in control and in case groups was analyzed. Case group were classified into different clinical phenotypes according to vertebral defect type, the location of deformity, the extent of developmental disruption, combined rib malformations and neural canal deformity. Genotying of all selected SNPs was done by SNPstream technology (Beckman Coulter SNPstream). All the data of SNPs with polymorphism are analyzed by the association analysis based on a single SNP. And pairwise linkage disequilibrium was calculated in the control population using Haploview 4.1 software.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Six SNPs of LMX1A gene (SNP1: rs1819768, SNP2: rs12023709, SNP3: rs16841013, SNP4: rs4656435, SNP5: rs4657412, SNP6: rs4657411) were genotyped and all polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium both in control and in case groups. The single locus analysis revealed the genotype distributions of SNP1 and SNP2 were statistically significantly different between case patients and control subjects (P=0.026 and P=0.026). In the unconditional logistic regression analysis, SNP1 and SNP2 both showed significant difference in both Ressessive model (OR=0.38; 95%CI=0.15-0.94) and overdominant model (OR=1.73; 95%CI=1.05-2.8), and the P values were 0.029 and 0.032, respectively. The Ressessive model was accepted as the best inheritance model because of the smaller AIC (Akaike information) value (354.9). SNP1, SNP2, SNP3 and SNP6 were in strong linkage disequilibrium. Both SNP4 and SNP5 were also in strong linkage disequilibrium. But no association was observed between all haplotypes polymorphisms and risk of CS. In the association analysis between the genotyhpes and the phenotype 1 (according to vertebral defect type) of CS, we got 3 positive SNPs. SNP1, SNP2 and SNP3 polymorphisms of LMX1A gene may related to CS with failure of formation. In the association analysis between the genotyhpes and other phenotypes of CS, no positive SNPs were obtained. It was suggested that genetic variants of LMX1A gene may be associated with the susceptibility to CS and different clinical phenotypes of CS in the Chinese Han population.