Association of VDR gene polymorphisms with risk of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in an Iranian Kurdish population

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of VDR Apa-I, Bsm-I, Fok-I, Taq-I single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with multiple sclerosis (MS) risk in an Iranian Kurdish population.

Materials and methods: A population including of 118 patients and 124 healthy matched controls were recruited to the study. Genotyping of the SNPs was accomplished using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

Results: The frequency of allele T of Fok-I (P = 0.003) and allele C of Taq-I (P = 0.0003) was significantly different between case and control subjects and showed significant association with risk of MS (OR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.23–2.76; OR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.36–2.87, respectively). CT genotype (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.05–2.99) of Fok-I and CC genotype (OR = 2.18, 95% CI = 1.05–4.52) of Taq-I showed a predisposing effect. Combined TT+TC vs. CC for Fok-I (OR = 2.15, 95% = CI 1.29–3.60) and combined CC+TC vs. TT for Taq-I (OR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.51–4.40) were susceptibility genotypes for MS. Apa-I and Bsm-I were not significantly associated with risk of MS (OR < 1, P > 0.05) and any genotypes in any genetic models were not significantly different between cases and controls (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: As a result, Fok-I and Taq-I showed significant association with risk of MS, while Apa-I and Bsm-I were not observed to be related to the risk of the disease in this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple sclerosis
• single nucleotide polymorphism
• association study
• vitamin D receptor
• Kurdish population

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the patient and healthy individuals for participating in this work and providing us the complementary information.

Disclosure statement

All the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by Fasa University of Medical Sciences [grant number 95125].