Endocrine Abstracts

Osteoporosis has a strong genetic component and is a common side-effect in patients with long-term glucocorticoid (GC) treatment. Vitamin D plays an important role in bone metabolism, and polymorphisms in its receptor (VDR) gene have been implicated in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. On the other hand, variability in the sensitivity to GCs, due to polymorphic variants of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene was observed in patients treated with GCs, both with regard to the ...