ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Endocrinology 2021 September;46(3):317-24

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-6507.20.03160-0

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Evaluation of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinomas and nodular goiter

Abdullah GUNES ✉, Murat B. YAZICIOGLU, Cagri TIRYAKI, Nihal UREN, Emel ERGUL, Turgay SIMSEK, Anil CUBUKCU

Department of General Surgery, University of Health Science, Kocaeli Derince Training and Research Hospital, Kocaeli, Turkey

BACKGROUND: The role of vitamin D has previously been determined in autoimmune and malignant thyroid diseases. We aimed to identify the haplotype distribution of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene, which has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of differentiated thyroid cancers and benign thyroid diseases.
METHODS: Two hundred and sixteen patients, 113 with benign and 103 with differentiated thyroid cancers, together with the same number of healthy controls, were included in the study. FokI, BsmI, ApaI, and TaqI SNPs in VDR were analyzed in all participants using the PCR-RFLP method.
RESULTS: When the patients with differentiated thyroid cancers or the patients with nodular goiter and control cases were compared for BsmI, ApaI or TaqI polymorphisms, three genotype distributions (BB, Bb, bb; AA, Aa, aa; TT, Tt, tt) were found to not differ significantly. When the patients with differentiated thyroid cancers and control cases were compared for the FokI polymorphism in the VDR gene, the three genotype distributions (FF, Ff, ff) did not differ. However, in patients with nodular goiter, the FF genotype in the FokI polymorphism of the VDR gene was found to be statistically significantly higher (P=0.033).
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study in the literature evaluating the role of VDR gene SNPs in nodular goiter. We can suggest that SNP distribution in the VDR gene is not associated with malignancy but may cause some alterations in thyrocyte morphology and functions.

KEY WORDS: Thyroid neoplasms; Goiter; Goiter, nodular; DRIP, VDR interacting protein complex