Is the +405 G/C single nucleotide polymorphism of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene associated with late-onset vitiligo?

The increasing body of evidence for the relationship between the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphism and autoimmune disorders combined with the enhanced expression of this angiogenic factor in vitiligo makes VEGF a very interesting candidate gene to be investigated in vitiligo. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible associations between the +405 G/C single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the VEGF gene (rs2010963) and vitiligo. The independent case-control population sample of 152 patients with vitiligo and 152 matched controls was evaluated in this study. A questionnaire was completed for each vitiligo patient to document the demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients. All enrolled individuals had a venous blood sample collected. Genotype frequencies for +405 G/C VEGF gene polymorphism were determined using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. There were no significant differences in genotype or allele distributions for this SNP between cases and controls. However, we observed a significant association between GG genotype and higher age at onset of vitiligo (p = 0.04). Moreover, patients stratification revealed a significant increase in the frequency of GG genotype compared to CC + CG genotypes in patients with the late onset (≥20 years) vitiligo (p = 0.05). Although these results are not conclusive, they could potentially lead to considering the angiogenic factors as a potential target for therapy in late-onset vitiligo.