Association analysis between HOXD9 genes and the development of developmental dysplasia of the hip in Chinese female Han population

BACKGROUND Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a congenital or acquired deformation or misalignment of the hip joint which affects mainly females. We hypothesized that HOXD9 gene could be regulated in acetabular size or shape and related in DDH developing. METHODS Two hundred and nine Chinese Han female DDH patients and 173 ethnic, age matched healthy female controls were genotyped for HOXD9 two tag SNPs using sequenom method. RESULTS One of the two tag SNPs, rs711822, was not shown significantly differences in genotypic or allelic distribution between case and control group. Comparing the genotypic distribution of rs711819, there was significant differences between DDH patients group and control group (χ² = 7.54, df =2, P =0.023), and the association to DDH developing reached significance (P =0.045, OR =1.79, 95 % CI: 1.01-3.17 by dominant mode). CONCLUSION In conclusion, the association between one tag SNP of HOXD9 gene and the development of DDH reach significant in our study population, this result indicate the positive correlation between HOXD9 gene and DDH developing. Further study in larger sample size and different population as well as functional studies will help to understand the pathogenesis of DDH.