VDR Gene Polymorphism and Rheumatoid Arthritis in Egyptian patients

Background and objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune multifactorial complicated disease that is related to widespread morbidity and mortality. The current study aimed to study the relation between vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism rs731236 (TaqI) and rs7975232 (ApaI) and RA susceptibility. Subjects, Materials and Methods: This study included 50 individuals were divided into two groups: Healthy volunteers group (10) and RA group (40) from Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig university hospitals. DNA was extracted from whole blood for all samples, and PCR was amplified using specific primers rs 731236 (TaqI) and rs 7975232 (ApaI) VDR restriction digestion was carried out for TaqI and ApaI genotyping, respectively. Results: There were non-significant difference in VDR gene polymorphism between RA patients & control subjects. Conclusion: TaqI is more specific than ApaI but Taq1 and Apa1 gene polymorphism not used as a diagnostic marker for RA disease, so there is no relation between VDR and RA.