Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism in multiple sclerosis and the association with HLA class II alleles

Abstract

We have previously reported that the association between Bsm I polymorphism, one of the vitamin D receptor genes (VDRG) polymorphism, and multiple sclerosis (MS). In this report, we investigated the further possible role or relevance of VDRG in the pathogenesis of MS. Apa I polymorphism was detected by PCR-RFLP from the DNA of 77 conventional MS patients and 95 healthy controls. The study of the Bsm I and Apa I haplotypes was carried out by employing previously reported Bsm I data. The AA genotype and the [A] allele in the profiles were significantly more prevalent in MS patients than in controls (P = 0.0070 and P = 0.0321, respectively). In the [A] allele- positive MS patients, the positive rate of DPB1* 0501 in HLA was significantly higher than that of the [A] allele-positive controls and that of the [A] allele-negative MS patients even when the corrected P value (P(corr)) was applied (P(corr) = 0.0220 and P(corr) = 0.0077, respectively). The frequency of DRB1* 1501 was higher in the [A] allele-positive patients than in the [A] allele-positive controls and the [A] allele-negative patients (P(uncorr) = 0.0431 and P(uncorr) = 0.0089, respectively), but the P values did not reach statistical significance after P corrections. The rate of Bsm I and Apa I haplotypes was much higher in bA/bA-positive MS patients than in the controls (P = 0.0003), and in the bA positive MS patients, the positive rate of DPB1* 0501 was higher than that of the bA-positive controls and that of the bA-negative MS patients (P(corr) = 0.0308 and P(corr) = 0.0033, respectively). These results indicate that VDRG polymorphism may be associated with susceptibility to MS, and HLA alleles may correlate with risk for MS together with VDRG. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.