Association of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms with diabetic dyslipidemia in the elderly male population in North China

Zheng Xia,1,* Yazhuo Hu,1,* Zhitao Han,1 Ya Gao,1 Jie Bai,2 Yao He,1 Hua Zhao,3 Honghong Zhang1 1Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing Key Laboratory of Normal Aging and Geriatrics, 2Cinical Laboratory in South Building, Chinese PLA General Hospital & Chinese PLA Medical Academy, Beijing, China; 3Zhantansi Outpatient Department, Chinese PLA 309 Hospital, Beijing, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The prevalence of dyslipidemia is rising alarmingly in elderly Han Chinese male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The genetic factors that contribute to the development of diabetic dyslipidemia remain incompletely identified. This study was conducted to assess the association between vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and development of dyslipidemia in the Han elderly male population with T2DM in North China.Methods: A total of 242 T2DM patients with dyslipidemia (DH group, n=108) or without dyslipidemia (DO group, n=134) and 100 controls were genotyped for ApaI, TaqI and FokI single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the VDR gene using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing. The frequency and distribution of the SNPs were compared between cases and controls.Results: The distribution of genotypes of VDR-FokI was significantly different between the control and DM group (P=0.033), as well as between the control and DH subgroup (P=0.011) but not DO subgroup (P=0.111). The frequency of C allele and CC genotype of FokI was significantly higher in the DH patients than in the controls (P=0.015 and P=0.003, respectively). Logistic regression analysis in a dominant model homozygous for the C allele of the FokI SNP showed that CC genotype was associated with DH patients (OR =1.797, 95% CI: 1.077–2.999, P=0.025). Significant associations of the ApaI and TaqI SNPs with either DO or DH subjects were not observed.Conclusion: These findings suggest that CC genotype of VDR-FokI is a risk factor for T2DM patients with dyslipidemia in elderly males in North China. Keywords: vitamin D receptor, VDR, diabetes, dyslipidemia, polymorphism, elderl