All submissions of the EM system will be redirected to Online Manuscript Submission System. Authors are requested to submit articles directly to Online Manuscript Submission System of respective journal.

Association between COL9A2 Gln326Arg mutations and the development of intervertebral disc disease in a Chinese population

Author(s): T. Meng, Q. Ren, J.M. Wang, H. Shi, S.T. Zhang and M.T. Liu

Intervertebral disc disease is a multifactorial condition, yet disease pathogenesis that can be promoted by a single dominant mutation affecting the expression of susceptibility genes. We performed a case-control study to assess the influence of the COL9A2 Gln326Arg polymorphism on risk of intervertebral disc disease in a Chinese population. Between March 2014 and March 2015, a total of 215 patients and 230 healthy controls were recruited from Binzhou Medical University Hospital. Genotyping of COL9A2 Gln326Arg was carried out using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the Arg/Arg genotype of COL9A2 Gln326Arg was associated with increased risk of intervertebral disc disease in comparison to the Gln/Gln genotype [crude odds ratio (OR) = 2.25, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12-4.62; adjusted OR = 2.46, 95%CI = 1.20-5.29]. Moreover, the Arg/Arg genotype correlated with an elevated risk of this disease compared to the Gln/Gln + Gln/Arg genotypes (crude OR = 2.21, 95%CI = 1.17-4.30; adjusted OR = 2.42, 95%CI = 1.28-5.51). In conclusion, our results suggest that the COL9A2 Gln326Arg polymorphism contributes to the development of intervertebral disc disease in the Chinese population.