Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus clinical manifestations

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disorder with heterogeneous clinical manifestations and target tissue damage. Currently, several genes have been associated with SLE susceptibility, including vitamin D receptor (VDR), which is a mediator of immune responses through the action of vitamin D. Polymorphisms in the VDR gene can impair the vitamin D (D3) function role, and since SLE patients show deficient D3 blood levels, it leads to a possible connection to the disease’s onset. In our study we searched for an association between VDR polymorphisms and risk of developing SLE, as well as the disease’s clinical manifestations. We enrolled 158 SLE patients and 190 Southeast Brazilian healthy controls, genotyped for five Tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), covering most of the VDR gene region. We found an association between VDR SNPs and SLE for the following clinical manifestations: rs11168268 and cutaneous alterations (p = 0.036), rs3890733 (p = 0.003) rs3890733 and arthritis (p = 0.001), rs2248098 and immunological alterations (p = 0.040), rs4760648 and antibody anti-dsDNA (p = 0.036). No association was reported between VDR polymorphisms and SLE susceptibility.