Variants of GSK3β and SFRP4 genes in Wnt signaling were not associated with osteonecrosis of the femoral head

Genome-wide association studies have identified that the gene variants in Wnt signaling associate with bone mineral density and fracture risk but the effects of the variants on the development of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) have been unclear. Here, we analyzed the polymorphisms of 4 variants in GSK3β and SFRP4 genes of Wnt signaling and their association with the development of ONFH through Mass ARRAY® platform in 200 ONFH patients and 177controls in Chinese population. Our results showed that the genotypes and allele frequencies of all variants detected in SFRP4 and GSK3β genes were not significantly different between patients and controls (p > 0.05); the correlation analysis between the 4 variants genotypes and gender, age at onset, etiological classification, unilateral or bilateral hip lesions, and clinical stages of ONFH, respectively, did not confirm significant association (p > 0.05) although age at onset in the minor homozygous(CC) carriers of SFRP4 rs1052981 (T/C) was a statistically younger tendency than that of the major homozygous (TT) or heterozygous (TC) of the SNP (p = 0.051); moreover, all haplotypes analyzed and their association with the clinical phenotypes of ONFH were also shown no statistical significance (p > 0.05).These results suggest that the 4 variants analyzed by this study in GSK3β and SFRP4 genes of Wnt signaling pathway are unlikely to be associated with susceptibility to ONFH.