Detection of the calcitonin receptor (CTR) gene polymorphism using PCR-RFLP assay in Turkish population

Calcitonin is a 32 amino acid length peptide hormone inhibiting bone resorption by activating calcitonin receptors located on the surface of the osteoclasts. This effect is a result of CTR activation which is a 7-transmembrane receptor located on the surface of osteoclasts. Activation of CTR induces adenilsiklase and causes a decline in the osteoclastic bone resorption. C/T polymorphism at the nucleotide position 1340 (codon position 447) in the CTR gene, its association has been detected with osteoporosis, and kidney stones, affects CTR activation. In the present study, detection of the frequency of such an important polymorphism in the CTR gene has been aimed. For this aim, the gene in question was amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) from 489 healthy blood donors from Aydın province and the polymorphism was detected by Restriction Fragment Length polymorphism (RFLP) assay. Results obtained from this analysis showed that C/C, C/T and TT genotype frequencies were 16.35%, 47.44% and 36.21%, respectively. The frequency of the mutant T allele was 55.35%. Comparisons these results with those obtained from different populations showed that there was a very close similarity with Italian population. It has been determined that the differences between observed and expected genotype frequencies in Aydın population were not significant, thus the population in question was in the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium.Key Words: CTR, PCR-RFLP, genetik polymorphism