Association of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism and risk of prostate cancer in India

Introduction: Vitamin D plays an important role in the proliferation and differentiation of normal and malignant cells. In several studies polymorphism in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene has been reported to be associated with prostate cancer (CaP). The rationale of this study was to determine the association between the VDR (Fok-1) polymorphism and the risk of developing CaP. Materials and Methods: Polymorphism was detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism method in 128 CaP patients (age range 43-89 years) and 147 age-matched controls (age range 42-91 years). PCR products were designated as F or f allele according to the absence or presence of a restriction site. Results and Conclusions: The frequencies of the FF, Ff and ff genotypes were 60.9, 35.2 and 3.9% in CaP patients and 42.2, 46.9 and 10.9% in healthy controls, respectively. The genotype frequency distribution between CaP and the control group was statistically significant (p = 0.003). However, the distribution of genotypes was not significantly associated with the Gleason score. The present study thus demonstrates that the FF genotype (or Fallele) of the VDR gene plays an important role in determining the risk of CaP and could be postulated as a good candidate genetic marker.