We aimed to identify miRNAs that are involved in BMD using data from recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on femoral neck, lumbar spine and forearm BMD. Of 242 miRNA-variants available in the GWAS data, we found SNP in the precursor miR-196a-2 to be significantly associated with femoral neck-BMD and lumbar spine-BMD. Our sensitivity analyses using the Rotterdam study data showed a sex-specific association of miR-196a-2 SNP with BMD only in women. We highlighted a number of miR-196a-2 target genes, expressed in bone and associated with BMD, that may mediate the miRNA function in BMD.

Genetic Polymorphism of miR-196a-2 is Associated with Bone Mineral Density (BMD). Karabegović I, .., Ghanbari M. Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Nov 25;18(12):2529. doi: 10.3390/ijms18122529.