Nitric oxide of genetic variants is associated with alcohol-induced osteonecrosis risk of the femoral head in a Han population

Purpose: Osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is a disease in which cell death in the bone occurs. This study investigated the association the tagging SNPs (tSNPs) genetic variants for the NOS3 gene associated with alcohol-induced ONFH in a Han Chinese population. Methods: A total of 209 alcohol-induced ONFH patients and 300 controls were recruited in this case-control study. We genotyped 4 tSNPs in the NOS3 and evaluated their association with alcohol-induced ONFH using the.2 test and genetic model analysis. Results: From the association test using the logistic regression model, The minor allele "T" frequency of rs3918184 showed a significant risk effect on alcohol-induced ONFH (P = 0.026, OR = 1.42; 95% CI = 1.04-1.95) and the genotype "G/G" of rs743506 showed an increased risk (P = 0.034, OR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.05-5.79). Additionally, haplotype analysis revealed that the rs743506, rs743507 have tight linked. Conclusion: These results suggested that the minor allele of rs3918184, rs743506 (T and G, respectively) contributes to an increase in the risk of alcohol-induced ONFH in the Chinese Han populations. And subsequently the NOS3 gene polymorphism with the pathogenesis of the alcohol-induced ONFH needed to be validation in a large sample.