Associations of Circulating Levels of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate with the Trabecular Bone Score and Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Women

Abstract

Despite the potential roles of sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) as a biomarker of osteoporotic fracture (OF), independent of bone mineral density (BMD) and clinical risk factors (CRFs), its association with bone micro-architecture, a key determinant of bone quality, have not been studied yet. We here investigated the association of S1P with the trabecular bone score (TBS), an index of the bone microarchitecture. The plasma S1P concentrations, TBS, and BMD were measured in the 339 postmenopausal women. The S1P level was inversely correlated with the TBS (gamma=-0.096, p=0.049) and BMD at the femur neck (FN-BMD: gamma=-0.122, p=0.025) and tended to be inversely correlated the BMD at the total hip (TH-BMD: gamma=-0.096, p=0.079), but not at the lumbar spine (LS-BMD). After adjusting for fracture risk assessment tool probabilities of major OF from CRFs, the S1P level was inversely associated with the TBS (beta=-0.096, p=0.049) and FN-BMD (beta=-0.118, p=0.025) and tended to be inversely associated with the TH-BMD (beta=-0.092, p=0.083). Compared with subjects in the lowest S1P tertile, those in the highest S1P tertile had a significantly lower TBS (p=0.032) and BMD at femur (p=0.004-0.036). These findings indicated that a high S1P level in postmenopausal women was inversely associated with the both bone mass and microarchitecture, reflecting the compromised bone strength.