| abstract |
Compositions and methods are provided for determining in a subject a risk for having, or presence of, altered bone mineral density such as osteoporosis or osteopenia or other conditions characterized by decreased or increased bone density. Specifically, the invention relates to determination of a sclerostin gene region nucleotide polymorphism (SRP) in DNA of the sclerostin gene region of human chromosome (17). In certain embodiments, SRPs that indicate an increased risk for altered bone mineral density occur as gender-associated polymorphisms. Isolated polynucleotides comprising representative SRPs are also provided. |