Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in Iranian Azary patients with Behcet's disease.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study was to investigate the association of four polymorphisms of the VDR gene (FokI, BsmI, TaqI, and ApaI) with their susceptibility to Behcet's disease (BD) and their clinical manifestations with respect to the Iranian Azari population. METHOD: In this cross-sectional study we considered the BsmI, FokI, ApaI, and TaqI polymorphisms in 50 Iranian Azary patients with BD and 50 healthy controls, with the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). RESULTS: A significant difference was found for the FokI polymorphism between the case and control groups. The f allele frequency of 26% was present in BD patients, compared to only 13% in the control group. In addition, the f/f genotype was significantly associated with BD. We found no significant differences between the BD and control groups regarding the distribution of ApaI, BsmI, and TaqI genotype frequencies. We found no association between VDR polymorphisms and the clinical manifestations of BD. CONCLUSIONS: The VDR f allele and f/f genotype are associated with BD in the Iranian Azari population.