Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Ömer ATEŞ, 1 Bilgen DÖLEK, 2 Levent DALYAN, 3 Ayşegül Topal-SARIKAYA3
1Department of Medical Biology, Medical Faculty of Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Turkey
2Department of Molecular Genetics, Düzen Laboratory, İstanbul, Turkey
3Departments of Molecular Biology and Genetics, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
Keywords: Polymorphism, rheumatoid arthritis, vitamin D receptor
Abstract
Objectives: In this study, we investigated the association of BsmI, TaqI, and FokI polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor gene in rheumatoid arthritis patients with rheumatoid factor positivity and erosive disease of rheumatoid arthritis.
Patients and methods: In this study we analyzed BsmI, TaqI and FokI polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor gene in 98 patients with RA (78 females, 20 males; mean age 50.8±12.3 years; range 38 to 63 years) and 122 healthy subjects (96 females, 26 males; mean age 57.1±6.1 years; range 51 to 63 years) by a polymerase chain reaction followed by enzymatic digestion between May 2006 and April 2008.
Results: The distributions of BsmI, TaqI and FokI, alleles/genotypes frequencies were similar in patients and controls. There were no significant differences between the vitamin D receptor genotypes/alleles and the presence or absence of erosions and rheumatoid factor.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that vitamin D receptor polymorphisms do not play a role in either rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility or in rheumatoid factor positivity and erosive disease of rheumatoid arthritis in the Turkish population.