Expression and significance of vitamin D and its receptor mRNA in the peripheral blood of initial immune thrombocytopenic patients

Abstract

To investigate the effect of vitamin D in pathogenesis and clinical treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenic (ITP), ELISA was used to detect the level of 25-hydroxylate vitamin D3[25(OH)D3] and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3[1,25(OH)2D3] in peripheral blood from 45 ITP patients and 30 normal controls. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) mRNA expression was detected by RT-PCR. The results showed that the levels of 25(OH)D3 (10.6 ± 7.7 ng/ml) and 1,25(OH)2D3 (69.9 ± 29.0 pg/ml) in peripheral blood of the initial ITP patients were lower than those in peripheral blood of normal controls (13.7 ± 9.1 ng/ml, 87.3 ± 19.9 pg/ml) (P < 0.05). The expression of VDR gene obviously increased in peripheral blood of initial ITP patients (1.588 ± 0.127), as compared with that in peripheral blood of normal controls (1.055 ± 0.734) (P < 0.05). It is concluded that vitamin D level and its receptor expression may play an important role in ITP, and vitamin D and its similarities may be a new agent to treat patients with ITP.