Objective: To determine the association between vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) gene and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) susceptibility in Han Nationality in China.
Methods: This was a case-control study. Blood samples were taken from sixty-nine smokers with COPD (group A) and fifty-two smokers without COPD (Group B). DNA was extracted from the white blood cells of both groups. Genotypes of VDBP were measured with polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.
Results: In group A the proportion of allele 1F homozygote was significantly Higher than that in group B (33.3% versus 11.5%, p = 0.005). The odds ratio for 1F-1F was 3.5 (95%confidence interval 1.9294-9.429) for COPD. Phenotype 2-2 showed a decreasing trend in group A, but the difference was not significant due to the small sample size. The frequency of allele 1F in group A was 0.558 compared with 0.404 in group B (p = 0.018). The frequency of allele 2 in group A was 0.196 compared with 0.308 in group B (p = 0.044).
Conclusions: Our result suggests that allele 1F is one of the risk factors for COPD associated with smoking. 1F homozygote may increase the risk of COPD. On the other hand, allele 2 might have a protective effect on pathogenesis of COPD.