Association of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms with Parkinson disease

Abstract

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) has been proposed as a candidate gene for susceptibility to Parkinson's disease (PD). This study was set to assess the association between VDR gene Apa I and Taq I polymorphisms and PD in a Chinese Han population. Two hundred and eighty five sporadic PD patients and 285 healthy controls were genotyped for the Apa I and Taq I polymorphisms in VDR gene using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. No significant difference was detected in genotype or allele distribution of both Apa I and Taq I polymorphisms between PD patients and controls (P U+003E 0.05). No TT genotype for Taq I was found in the studied population. For Taq I, the distribution of genotype was significantly different between male PD patients and controls (U+03C7 2=4.187, P=0.032, OR=2.149, 95%CI: 1.011-4.567), and the frequency of T allele was significantly higher in male PD patients than male controls (U+03C7 2=3.867, P=0.036, OR=2.064, 95%CI: 0.989-4.307). VDR gene Apa I polymorphisms are not associated with sporadic Parkinson's disease, but Taq I may be a risk factor for male PD.