• Tsuyoshi Deguchi, Hiroshi Hashizume, Chikashi Terao, Masahiro Nakajima, Masatoshi Teraguchi, Hiroshi Yamada, Sakae Tanaka, Noriko Yoshimura, Munehito Yoshida, and Shiro Ikegawa.
• Department of Statistical Genetics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yamadaoka, Suita-City, Japan.
• Eur Spine J. 2024 Sep 1; 33 (9): 333433423334-3342.

PurposeIntervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is a common degenerative disease associated with ageing. Additionally, IDD is recognized as one of the leading causes of low back pain and disability in the working-age population and is the first step in the process leading to degenerative spinal changes. However, the genetic factors and regulatory mechanisms of IDD remain unknown. Therefore, we selected eight single nucleotide polymorphisms of genes to reveal the progression of IDD in a 7-year longitudinal study of the general population in Japan.MethodsIDD was evaluated in the Wakayama Spine Study (WSS), which is a population-based cohort study. Overall, 574 participants from the general population cohort who underwent whole spine magnetic resonance imaging and provided clinical information were included in this longitudinal survey.ResultsThe progression of IDD was affected only by THBS2 at the lumbar region, T12-L1 (p = 0.0044) and L3-4 (p = 0.0045). The significant interaction between THBS2 and age with IDD negatively affected the thoracic spines and passively influenced both the thoracolumbar junction and thoracic spines. The higher progression per year of Pfirrmann's score was rapid in young people with age; however, this decelerated the IDD progression per year in different ages.ConclusionOur longitudinal study found the genes associated with IDD progression and that genetic factors' impact on IDD differs depending on disc level and age.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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