No association of vitamin D receptor gene start codon Fok I Polymorphisms in Chinese patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective. To examine whether the start codon Fok I of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism is a mark-or of susceptibility to or severity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in Chinese patients in Taiwan. Methods. A control group of 90 healthy people and 52 patients with SLE were examined. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based restriction analysis, we evaluated the relationship between Fok I polymorphisms and SLE, where an unexcisable length was determined to be 265 bp (1717), and the 2 fragments measuring 169 bp and 96 bp were determined to be excisable lengths (ff). Results. For the genotype of VDR Fok I start codon polymorphism, there were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups (chi-squared test, p = 0.07). Additionally, we did not detect any association of VDR genotype with the clinical and laboratory profiles in SLE patients. Conclusion. Our results suggest that the vitamin D receptor Fok I start codon polymorphism is not related to patients with SLE in Taiwan.