Moreover, Kajita et al. performed a quantitative trait locus analysis and a longitudinal follow-up study of 378 Japanese postmenopausal women over 5 years, and showed that genetic variation of BNP gene may be an important determinant of postmenopausal osteoporosis, in part through the mechanism of accelerated bone loss [24]. The gene discussed is NPPB; the disease is postmenopausal osteoporosis.