title: Association of vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms with behcet disease in a Korean population.
abstract: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is important for angiogenesis and inflammation, both of which are codependent and contribute to the pathophysiology of Behcet disease (BD). The increased expressions of VEGF have been observed in the active stage and in the ocular inflammation of BD. Polymorphisms of the VEGF gene have been associated with chronic inflammatory disease including rheumatoid arthritis. We sought to investigate whether polymorphisms on the regulatory region of the VEGF gene are associated with susceptibility of Korean patients with BD. One hundred one native Korean patients with BD and 138 healthy unrelated controls were recruited. Genotype and allele frequencies of the four selected polymorphisms (-2578, -1154, -634, and 936) were not different between the BD group and controls. Among the BD patients, the frequency of the -634 CC genotype decreased in patients with uveitis (2.6% vs. 20.6%, adjusted OR = 0.100, 95% CI 0.011-0.875, p = 0.037), although it became insignificant after correction for multiple comparisons. These results indicate that the VEGF gene polymorphisms are not associated with BD in the Korean population, but they may be involved in the development of the ocular inflammation of BD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Eon Jeong
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Seung Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Sung Uk
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jang Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Kheum Hee
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Sa
authors.forename: Won Kee
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae Yong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Young Mo
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014605:Uveitis / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A