The COMT val158met Polymorphism Is Associated with Early Pubertal Development, Height and Cortical Bone Mass in Girls

Estrogens are involved in accretion of bone mass during puberty. Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) is involved in the degradation of estrogens. In this cross-sectional study we investigated associations between the COMT val158met polymorphism, which results in a 60-75% difference in enzyme activity between the val (high activity = H) and the met (low activity = L) variant, and skeletal phenotypes in 246 healthy pre/early pubertal girls. Girls with COMT(LL) were 5.4 cm taller than COMT(HH) girls. Dual x-ray absorptiometry showed higher values of bone mineral content (BMC), and larger areas of total body, femur and spine in COMT(LL). Cortical BMC, measured by peripheral quantitative compute…