title: Serum Vitamin D and Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphism in Mycosis Fungoides Patients: A Case Control Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitamin D has been considered a key player in various malignancies including cutaneous cancers. To date, mycosis fungoides (MF) has been the least studied in relation to vitamin D. Furthermore, the vitamin D receptor (VDR) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have not been tackled before in the context of MF, despite their incrimination in numerous diseases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the role of vitamin D in MF by measuring its serum level, and studying VDR SNPs (TaqI, BsmI, FokI) in different stages of MF.
  
  
  METHODS
  48 patients with various stages of MF, and 45 healthy controls were included. Complete history, full clinical examination and a five mm punch skin biopsy were performed to all recruited patients. Venous blood samples were withdrawn from both patients and controls to determine the serum vitamin D level and VDR gene polymorphisms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum vitamin D level was significantly lower in patients (5.3-33.7 nmol/L)] compared to controls (8.3-90.1 nmol/L)] (P<0.001). A significant difference was observed between patients and controls regarding the FokI polymorphism only, being higher in patients (P = 0.039). Also Vitamin D serum levels differed significantly in patients with FokI genotypes (P = 0.014). No significant correlations were detected between any of the studied parameters and the demographic and clinical data of the included subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Depressed vitamin D and FokI polymorphism are potentially involved in the context of MF. VDR gene polymorphisms warrant further larger scale investigations to detect the exact genes involved in the pathogenesis of such an enigmatic disease.
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hoda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rasheed
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Rehab A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hegazy
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Heba I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Gawdat
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Chemical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Dina A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Mehaney
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Marwa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kamel
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Marwa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Fawzy
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohammed M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Nooh
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Hebatallah A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Darwish
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000235:genetics*; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol; D014807:Vitamin D