title: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Polymorphism is not Associated with Diabetic Retinopathy in Egyptian Patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was implicated as a major contributor to the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). This study investigated whether single nucleotide polymorphisms of A allele of rs699947 or G allele of rs10434 in the VEGF gene were associated with DR in Egyptian patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a case-controlled study which was performed at Cairo University Hospital in 2012 on Egyptian patients with type 2 DM with and without DR. Healthy adults without diabetes comprised the comparison group. Patients underwent an ophthalmological examination and fundus photography. Genotyping was performed for the A allele of rs699947 and the G allele of rs10434 polymorphisms using real-time polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 128 patients were enrolled in this study and divided into three groups: Group A included 46 patients with type 2 DM and DR; Group B included 41 patients with type 2 DM without DR; and Group C included 41 healthy controls. There was no significant association between rs699947 or rs10434 and any of the three groups (P = 0.5, P = 0.7, respectively). Allelic frequency in the three groups was not statistically significant for rs699947 or rs10434 (P = 0.6, P = 0.6, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rs699947 or rs10434 polymorphism was not associated with the presence of DR in Egyptian patients. Further studies are required before genetic testing for polymorphism can be used clinically to correlate with DR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Rana Ahmed
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Abdel Fattah
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Rasha Mounir
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Eltanamly
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mostafa Hamed
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nabih
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pathology, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Manal Mohammed
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kamal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000235:genetics; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000235:genetics*; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
keywords: Diabetic Retinopathy; Gene; Polymorphism