Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

  Background and Aim: In addition to exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), development of tuberculosis is influenced by environmental and host genetic factors, and clinical disease only occurs in less than 10% of the infected individuals. Vitamin D metabolism leads to activation of macrophages and restricts the intracellular growth of mycobacterium. This effect may be influenced by polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene. In the present study we investigated the impact of VDR gene variation in susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis.

  Materials and Methods: This study was a case-control analysis in an Iranian population. We evaluated four VDR gene polymorphisms [defined by the presence of restriction endonuclease sites for FokI (F/f), BsmI (B/b), TaqI (T/t), and ApaI (A/a)] in 96 patients with tuberculosis and 122 matched healthy controls. A modified polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) technique was used to identify these polymorphisms in VDR gene simultaneously.Chi square was used for data analysis.

  Results: Comparison of allele and genotype frequencies for the above VDR gene polymorphic sites revealed no significant difference between patient and control groups.

  Conclusion: This data may rule out the importance of VDR gene polymorphisms in susceptibility to tuberculosis among Iranian population.