Interaction Between Vitamin D Metabolism Genetic Variants: Association with Hypovitaminosis D, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Its Clinical Disease Activity.

BACKGROUND

Hypovitaminosis D has been associated with worse rheumatoid arthritis (RA) manifestations. Notably, different genetic studies have reported that approximately 65% of hypovitaminosis D can be partially explained using the presence of single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in key genes involved in its metabolism. This study aimed to investigate the association and gene-gene interactions of four SNVs in vitamin D metabolism genes, rs10741657 (CYP2R1), rs10877012 (CYP27B1), rs4809959 (CYP24A1), and rs731236 TaqI (VDR), with hypovitaminosis D, RA, and its clinical disease activity in a Mexican mestizo population.

METHODS

This study was conducted among females: 204 RA patients and 204 control subjects (CS). Vitamin D serum levels (calcidiol) were analyzed using ELISA, SNVs through allelic discrimination with TaqMan® probes, and were analyzed using a multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method.

RESULTS

MDR analysis suggested that GG and TT genotypes of rs10877012 (CYP27B1) were linked to lower calcidiol levels, while the CT and CC genotypes of rs731236 TaqI (VDR) were associated with increased RA susceptibility and higher disease activity. Logistic regression confirmed that the GG genotype of rs10877012 (CYP27B1) was associated with hypovitaminosis D (OR = 1.8; CI: 1.1-3.0; p = 0.01), and the CT genotype of rs731236 TaqI (VDR) with RA (OR = 1.9; CI: 1.2-2.9; p < 0.01) and high DAS28-ESR (OR = 3.6; CI: 1.3-10.7; p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The GG genotype of rs10877012 CYP27B1 was associated with susceptibility to hypovitaminosis D, whereas the CT genotype of rs731236 TaqI VDR confers susceptibility to RA and high clinical disease activity in the Mexican mestizo population.