Association of serum levels and receptor genes BsmI, TaqI and FokI polymorphisms of vitamin D with the severity of multiple sclerosis

Purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease. Vitamin D has a major role in preventing inflammatory disorders. Therefore, any alteration in vitamin D receptor (VDR) might be a genetic risk factor for MS development. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of serum levels and VDR FokI, BsmI, and TaqI gene polymorphisms on the severity of MS. Methods: This case-control study recruited 160 MS patients (71.9% females, mean age of 34.3 +/- 8.3 years) and 162 (66.7% females, mean age 35.4 +/- 7.9 year) age, sex, and ethnicity matched healthy controls. FokI (rs2228570), BsmI (rs1544410), and TaqI (rs731236) polymorphisms were carried out using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Demographic, clinical parameters, and the levels of vitamin D were compared between groups. Results: We found that the frequency of FokI and TaqI polymorphisms significantly differed between the patients and the controls (p = 0.0127 and p = 0.0236, respectively). The MS patients had low levels of vitamin D compared to the controls (p = 0.011). In addition, TaqI T/C polymorphism significantly decreased the levels of vitamin D in the MS patients (p = 0.002). However, there was no significant association between FokI or BsmI SNPs and the levels of vitamin D in MS patients (p > 0.5). Conclusion: Our results suggest that FokI and TaqI polymorphisms of VDR are associated with MS risk and TaqI polymorphism is associated with Vitamin D levels in MS patients. Meanwhile, no difference was observed between VDR gene polymorphisms and any types of MS. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Automated summary

The study found significant differences in the frequency of FokI and TaqI polymorphisms between MS patients and healthy controls, with MS patients having lower levels of vitamin D and TaqI T/C polymorphism significantly decreasing the levels of vitamin D in MS patients.