Single-nucleotide polymorphism rs10036727 in the SLIT3 gene is associated with osteoporosis at the femoral neck in older Mexican postmenopausal women

Osteoporosis (OP) remains a major public health problem worldwide. The most serious complications of this disease are fragility fractures, which increase morbidity and mortality. Management of OP represents an economic burden for health systems. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new screening strategies to identify the population at risk and implement preventive measures. We previously identified the SNPs rs3801387 in WNT16, rs7108738 in SOX6, rs10036727 in SLIT3 and rs7584262 in PKDCC as associated with bone mineral density in postmenopausal women through a genome-wide association study. The aim of this study was to validate those SNPs in two independent cohorts of non-related postmenopausal women. We included 1160 women classifying them as normal, osteopenic or osteoporotic and a group with hip fragility fracture. Genotyping was performed using predesigned TaqMan assays. The variants rs10036727 and rs7108738 showed a significant association with BMD at the femoral neck. SLIT3 has been previously proposed as a potential biomarker and therapeutic resource. Our results provide new evidence regarding a possible involvement of SLIT3 in bone metabolisms and encourage the development of more studies in different populations to support these observations.