Keywords
vitamin K2
vitamin D
osteocalcin
uncarboxylated osteocalcin
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Abstract
Introduction: Vitamins K2 and D play a central role in calcium metabolism and interact synergistically in maintaining bone and cardiovascular health. Vitamin D stimulates the synthesis of proteins that are activated by vitamin K2-dependent carboxylation. The effects of vitamin K2 on calcium metabolism, bone turnover, and its potential role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis are not fully understood.
Aim: To investigate the levels of vitamins K2 and D in patients with osteoporosis and menopausal women and to study their influence on bone turnover.
Materials and methods: 48 menopausal women were studied, divided into two groups after measuring the BMD of the lumbar spine with DXA: a working group, 26 women with osteoporosis aged 65.62±9.2 years, and a control group of 22 women without osteoporosis aged 63.55±8.7 years. Plasma concentrations of calcium, phosphates, ALP, vitamin D, PTH, OC, ucOC were measured. Vitamin K2 status was indirectly assessed by the ucOC/OC ratio.
Results: The measured indicators did not show significant differences in the two groups. In both groups ucOC/OC ratio is high and indicates a vitamin K2 deficiency. Vitamin D levels indicate insufficiency. In the OP group, OC showed a positive correlation with vitamin D (p = 0.015) and with ALP (p = 0.025). UcOC showed a positive correlation with vitamin D (p = 0.033). UcOC/OC ratio showed a high negative correlation with OC (p < 0.001) and a negative correlation with ALP, (p = 0.043).
Conclusion: Our data indicate poor vitamin K2 and D status. In the postmenopausal OP group, both vitamins affect bone turnover through the interrelated levels of PTH, ALP and OC, which suppresses osteoblast function and disrupts the balance between bone formation and resorption in favor of resorption.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Tatyana Nedkova Simeonova, Krasimira Stefanova, Borislav Ignatov, Krasimir Kostov (Author)