SIRT1 Gene SNP rs932658 is Associated with Medication-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is a rare but serious adverse drug reaction. Our previous whole-exome sequencing study found SIRT1 intronic region SNP rs7896005 to be associated with MRONJ in cancer patients treated with intravenous (IV) bisphosphonates (BPs). This study aimed to identify causal variants for this association. In silico analyses identified three SNPs (rs3758391, rs932658, and rs2394443) in the SIRT1 promoter region that are in high linkage disequilibrium (r2 > 0.8) with rs7896005. To validate the association between these SNPs and MRONJ, we genotyped these three SNPs on the germline DNA from 104 cancer patients of European ancestry treated with IV BPs (46 cases and 58 controls). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed the minor alleles of these three SNPs were associated with lower odds for MRONJ. The odds ratios (95% confidence interval) and p values were 0.351 (0.164-0.751) (p=0.007) for rs3758391, 0.351 (0.164-0.751) (p=0.007) for rs932658, and 0.331 (0.157-0.697) (p=0.0036) for rs2394443, respectively. In the reporter gene assays, constructs containing rs932658 with variant allele A had higher luciferase activity than the reference allele, while constructs containing SNP rs3758391 and/or rs2394443 did not significantly affect activity. These results indicate that the promoter SNP rs932658 regulates the expression of SIRT1 and presumably lowers the risk of MRONJ by increasing SIRT1 expression.