Analysis of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) functional variants in rheumatoid arthritis

The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most important pro-angiogenic mediators related to inflammation-associated synovial angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to asses the role of -1154 G -> A (rs1570360) and -634 G -> C (rs2010963) VEGF gene functional variants with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The population under study was composed of a total of 753 unrelated RA patients and 801 healthy controls. The VEGF -1154 G -> A and -634 G -> C polymorphism genotyping was performed by real-time polymerase chain reaction technology, using TaqMan 5' allelic discrimination assay. No evidence of association was observed between the -1154 G-A and the -634 G -> C VEGF polymorphisms, or inferred VEGF haplotypes with RA susceptibility or clinical manifestations. Our results suggest that the analyzed VEGF promoter polymorphisms may not play a relevant role in RA pathogenesis in our population. Human Immunology 66, 864-868 (2005). (c) American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, 2005. Published by Elsevier Inc.