Promoter polymorphisms of the vascular endothelial growth factor gene is associated with an osteonecrosis of the femoral head in the Korean population.
OBJECTIVE
Disruption of the vascular supply to the bone and subsequent hypoxia has been implicated in the pathogenesis of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a major inducer of angiogenesis, has been correlated with several pathological conditions, from inflammation to ischemic processes. A number of polymorphisms in the VEGF gene have been described as being associated with several diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, prostate cancer and breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of VEGF gene polymorphisms with ONFH in a case--control study.


METHODS
Three polymorphisms (-2578C>A, -634G>C and +936C>T) in VEGF were genotyped in 317 ONFH patients and 497 control subjects, using the TaqMan 5' allelic discrimination assay. We performed the association analysis of genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes with ONFH.


RESULTS
The -634G>C genotype was significantly associated with an increased risk for ONFH in dominant model with odds ratio (OR) of 1.47, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) 1.08-2.01 with P value 0.015. Further analysis stratified by sex showed that the -634G>C genotype was also significantly associated with a high risk for male patients considering the dominant model with OR of 1.60, 95% CI 1.13-2.26 with P value 0.008. Haplotype association analysis did not provide a further delineation of the risk allele.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study is, to our knowledge, the first report that shows the -634G>C polymorphism in the VEGF promoter was associated with an increased susceptibility of ONFH in the Korean population.
Kim
T -H
T-
Skeletal Diseases Genome Research Center, Kyungpook National University Hospital, 44-2 Samduk 2-ga, Jung-gu, Daegu 700-412, Republic of Korea.
Hong
J M
JM
Lee
J -Y
J-
Oh
B
B
Park
E K
EK
Lee
C -K
C-
Bae
S -C
S-
Kim
S -Y
S-
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005270:Femur Head / Q000098:blood supply; D005271:Femur Head Necrosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D005454:Fluorescence Polarization; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D020506:Untranslated Regions; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
D020506:Untranslated Regions; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A