Osteoporosis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Osteoporosis, including details on symptoms, treatment, prevention, causes.

The IL-1 gene family and bone involvement in celiac disease.

Moreno ML, Crusius JB, Cherñavsky A, Sugai E, Sambuelli A, Vazquez H, Mauriño E, Peña AS, Bai JC

Department of Medicine, C. Bonorino Udaondo Gastroenterology Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Celiac disease (CD) is associated with decreased bone mineral mass. Its pathogenesis is multifactorial since both systemic and local mechanisms may play a role. Our objective was to determine whether single-nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding members of the interleukin-1 family are associated with bone damage measured by densitometry in a series of 71 adult CD patients assessed at diagnosis. When compared with non-carrier CD patients, carriers of allele T of the interleukin-1beta gene (IL1B-511T) had a significantly lower bone mass at the total skeleton level (p = 0.0484) and a greater prevalence of osteopenia/osteoporosis (p = 0.0102). To our knowledge, this is the first evidence on the association between a genetic predisposition and low bone mass in CD patients. This finding supports the postulated inflammation-associated bone loss pathogenesis as one of the causes of bone weakness in CD.

Published 5 October 2005 in Immunogenetics, 57(8): 618-20.
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