Authors: Alvarez-Hernandez D, Naves-Diaz M, Gomez-Alonso C, Coto E, Cannata-Andia JB
In the last decade, the likely role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms in different diseases has been extensively discussed. In this paper we review several studies carried out in this field to investigate the possible influence of VDR polymorphisms on different aspects of bone and parathyroid gland metabolism. On one hand, most of the epidemiological studies showed that the BAt haplotype, from BsmI, ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms in VDR, is associated with a lower bone mineral density (BMD) in women and a higher risk of osteoporotic fractures. On the other hand, experimental studies carried out in both human primary osteoblasts and human parathyroid glands showed that while in osteoblasts the BAt ...