The Causal Effect of Vitamin D Binding Protein (DBP) Levels on Calcemic and Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study

Abstract

In this study, Richards and colleagues undertook a Mendelian randomization study to determine whether vitamin D binding protein (DBP) levels have a causal effect on common calcemic and cardiometabolic diseases. They concluded that DBP has no demonstrable causal effect on any of the diseases or traits investigated here, except Vit D levels.

Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Abstract

Background

Observational studies have shown that vitamin D binding protein (DBP) levels, a key determinant of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25OHD) levels, and 25OHD levels themselves both associate with risk of disease. If 25OHD levels have a causal influence on disease, and DBP lies in this causal pathway, then DBP levels should likewise be causally associated with disease. We undertook a Mendelian randomization study to determine whether DBP levels have causal effects on common calcemic and cardiometabolic disease.

Methods and Findings

We measured DBP and 25OHD levels in 2,254 individuals, followed for up to 10 y, in the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos). Using the single nucleotide polymorphism rs2282679 as an instrumental variable, we applied Mendelian randomization methods to determine the causal effect of DBP on calcemic (osteoporosis and hyperparathyroidism) and cardiometabolic diseases (hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and stroke) and related traits, first in CaMos and then in large-scale genome-wide association study consortia. The effect allele was associated with an age- and sex-adjusted decrease in DBP level of 27.4 mg/l (95% CI 24.7, 30.0; n = 2,254). DBP had a strong observational and causal association with 25OHD levels ( p = 3.2×10 ⁻¹⁹). While DBP levels were observationally associated with calcium and body mass index (BMI), these associations were not supported by causal analyses. Despite well-powered sample sizes from consortia, there were no associations of rs2282679 with any other traits and diseases: fasting glucose (0.00 mmol/l [95% CI −0.01, 0.01]; p = 1.00; n = 46,186); fasting insulin (0.01 pmol/l [95% CI −0.00, 0.01,]; p = 0.22; n = 46,186); BMI (0.00 kg/m ² [95% CI −0.01, 0.01]; p = 0.80; n = 127,587); bone mineral density (0.01 g/cm ² [95% CI −0.01, 0.03]; p = 0.36; n = 32,961); mean arterial pressure (−0.06 mm Hg [95% CI −0.19, 0.07]); p = 0.36; n = 28,775); ischemic stroke (odds ratio [OR] = 1.00 [95% CI 0.97, 1.04]; p = 0.92; n = 12,389/62,004 cases/controls); coronary artery disease (OR = 1.02 [95% CI 0.99, 1.05]; p = 0.31; n = 22,233/64,762); or type 2 diabetes (OR = 1.01 [95% CI 0.97, 1.05]; p = 0.76; n = 9,580/53,810).

Conclusions

DBP has no demonstrable causal effect on any of the diseases or traits investigated here, except 25OHD levels. It remains to be determined whether 25OHD has a causal effect on these outcomes independent of DBP.

Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Editors' Summary

Background

Vitamin D deficiency is an increasingly common public health concern. According to some estimates, more than a billion people worldwide may be vitamin D deficient. Indeed, many people living in the US and Europe (in particular, elderly people, breastfed infants, people with dark skin, and obese individuals) have serum (circulating) 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25OHD) levels below 50 nmol/l, the threshold for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, a mineral that is essential for healthy bones. Consequently, vitamin D deficiency can lead to calcemic diseases such as rickets (a condition that affects bone development in children), osteomalacia (soft bones in adults), and osteoporosis (a condition in which the bones weaken and become susceptible to fracture). We get most of our vitamin D needs from our skin, which makes vitamin D after exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D is also found naturally in oily fish and eggs, and is added to some other foods, including cereals and milk, but some people need to take vitamin D supplements to avoid vitamin D deficiency.

Why Was This Study Done?

Observational studies have reported that the low levels of serum 25OHD and serum vitamin D binding protein (DBP, a key determinant of serum 25OHD level) are both associated with the risk of several common diseases and traits. Such studies have implicated vitamin D deficiency in cardiometabolic disease (cardiovascular diseases that affect the heart and/or blood vessels and metabolic diseases that affect the cellular chemical reactions needed to sustain life), in some cancers, and in Alzheimer disease. But observational studies cannot prove that vitamin D deficiency or DBP levels actually cause any of these diseases. So, for example, an observational study might report an association between vitamin D deficiency and type 2 diabetes (a metabolic disease), but the individuals who develop type 2 diabetes might share another unknown characteristic that is actually responsible for disease development (a confounding factor). Alternatively, type 2 diabetes might reduce circulating vitamin D levels (reverse causation). Here, the researchers undertake a Mendelian randomization study to determine whether circulating DBP levels have causal effects on calcemic and cardiometabolic diseases. In Mendelian randomization, causality is inferred from associations between genetic variants that mimic the influence of a modifiable environmental exposure and the outcome of interest. Because gene variants are inherited randomly, they are not prone to confounding and are free from reverse causation. So, if low DBP levels lead to low serum 25OHD levels, and vitamin D levels have a causal effect on common diseases, genetic variants associated with low DBP levels should be associated with the development of common diseases.

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

The researchers analyzed the association between a genetic variant called single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2282679, which is known to alter DBP levels, and calcemic and cardiometabolic diseases and related traits in 2,254 participants in the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos). The researchers report that there was a strong association between SNP rs2282679 and both serum DBP and 25OHD levels among the CaMos participants. However, there were no significant associations (associations unlikely to have occurred by chance) between SNP rs2282679 and calcium level, osteoporosis, or several cardiometabolic diseases, including heart attacks and diabetes. Moreover, when the researchers examined publically available genome-wide association study data collected by several international consortia investigating genetic influences on disease, they found no significant associations between rs2282679 and a wide range of calcemic and cardiometabolic diseases.

What Do These Findings Mean?

In this Mendelian randomization study, DBP level had no demonstrable causal effect on any of the calcemic or cardiometabolic diseases or traits investigated, except 25OHD level. Because most of the participants in CaMos and the international consortia were of European descent, these findings are applicable only to people of European ancestry. Moreover, like all Mendelian randomization studies, the reliability of these findings depends on several assumptions made by the researchers. Notably, although this study strongly suggests that DBP level does not have a causal influence on several common diseases, it remains to be determined whether 25OHD has a causal effect on any calcemic or cardiometabolic outcomes independent of DBP level.

Additional Information

Please access these websites via the online version of this summary at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001751.

• The UK National Health Service Choices website provides information about vitamin D and about how to get vitamin D from sunshine; “Behind the Headlines” articles describe a recent observational study that reported an association between vitamin D deficiency and Alzheimer disease and the media coverage of this study, other health claims made for vitamin D, and a randomized control trial that questioned the role of vitamin D in disease

• The US National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements provides information about vitamin D (in English and Spanish)

• The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides information about the vitamin D status of the US population

• MedlinePlus has links to further information about vitamin D (in English and Spanish)

• Information about the Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study is available

• Wikipedia has a page on Mendelian randomization (note: Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit; available in several languages)