Investigation of The Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) Gene Polymorphisms in Lumbar Disc Herniation in Turkish Patients

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Objective: Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is a common degenerative disease. It is still not clear if there is a possible association between the vitamin D pathway and the etiopathogenesis of the disease. In this study, we investigated certain VDR polymorphisms which are known to affect vitamin D levels in patients with lumbar disc herniation. Material and Method: TaqI (rs731236) and Fok-I (rs2228570) polymorphisms were studied by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in 72 LDH patients and 81 healthy controls. Results: After evaluation of our results, the frequency of LDH patients who have VDR Taq-I Tt genotype was significantly higher than the controls and carriers of Taq-I Tt genotype and t allele who had an increased risk for lumbar disc hernia cases, respectively p=0.002, OR:1.688, 95%CI:1.206-2.360; p=0.006, OR:1.420, 95%CI:1.104-1.825. VDR Fok-I genotypes did not differ significantly between lumbar disc herniation and control cases. (p=0.079). But, Ff genotype and f allele carriers had a higher risk for lumbar disk hernia than those with other genotypes, respectively p=0.025, OR:1.594, 95%CI:1.052- 2.414; p=0.037, OR:1.514, 95%CI:1.019-2.250. Conclusion: Our study contributes to the identification of genetic risk factors for specific subgroups of patients with LDH, and emphasizes the contribution of these biomarkers to the detailed clinical evaluation of patients with genetic biomarkers.