Serum 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D Levels and Association of Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphisms in Vitiligo

BACKGROUND: The role of vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms has been established in many autoimmune diseases, including vitiligo, but the result is still controversial. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the serum vitamin D levels in vitiligo patients and to compare the association of VDR gene polymorphisms in vitiligo patients and healthy controls. METHODS: We collected the data of age, sex, serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25[OH]D) level, thyroid autoantibodies, disease duration, types of vitiligo, family history and the affected body surface area of vitiligo from 172 patients. And we analyzed the VDR gene polymorphisms in 130 vitiligo and 453 age-sex-matched control subjects. RESULTS: The mean serum level of 25(OH)D in 172 vitiligo patients was 18.75 ± 0.60 ng/mL, which had no significant difference with a mean serum value of 25(OH)D in the Korean population. However, there were significant differences according to the duration of the disease and family history. Also, there were no significant differences in the genotypic and allelic distributions of 37 examined SNPs of VDR gene between vitiligo patients and healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Serum level of 25(OH)D in vitiligo patients was not significantly different from the mean serum value of the Korean population. Also, there were no significant differences in the genotypic distributions of VDR gene between vitiligo patients and healthy controls.