Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences on calcified tissues
Bone Abstracts (2013) 1 PP272 | DOI: 10.1530/boneabs.1.PP272

ECTS2013 Poster Presentations Genetics (17 abstracts)

Comparison of gene expression in osteoblasts from patients of Polynesian and Caucasian ethnicities

Dorit Naot 1 , Usha Bava 1 , Ally Choi 1 , Karen Callon 1 , Rocco Pitto 1, , Jarome Bentley 2 , Greg Gamble 1 & Jillian Cornish 1


1University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; 2Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.


Polynesians have higher bone mineral density and lower rate of hip fracture compared to age-matched Caucasian in New Zealand, and anecdotal evidence suggests that bones of Polynesian patients heal much faster than those of Caucasians. We compared gene expression in osteoblasts cultured form bone samples taken from patients of Polynesian and Caucasian origin, in order to identify genes and pathways that contribute to the greater density and accelerated healing of Polynesian bones. The study had the approval of the Regional Ethics Committee. RNA was extracted from primary osteoblasts cultured from bone samples obtained during orthopaedic surgery from 30 Polynesian and 30 Caucasian patients. Global gene expression was determined in ten samples from each group using PrimeView GeneChip microarrays (Affymetrix). The samples were age, sex, and BMI matched. Of the >20 000 genes represented on the arrays, 171 genes had a twofold or greater difference in expression levels between the two groups, with about half of the genes showing higher levels of expression in each group. A number of the genes identified by the microarrays were further investigated by real-time PCR in the larger group of samples. So far, the levels of expression of NOV (nephroblastoma overexpressed), EFNB2 (ephrin B2), and EFHD1 (EF-hand domain family, member D1) were found to be significantly lower in the Polynesian group, with approximately twofold difference between the groups for all three genes. Significant differences have been identified between osteoblasts of the two ethnic groups and hypotheses about the contribution of the candidate genes to the accelerated healing of Polynesian bone can be formulated and tested.

Volume 1

European Calcified Tissue Society Congress 2013

Lisbon, Portugal
18 May 2013 - 22 May 2013

European Calcified Tissue Society 

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