Background: Colorectal cancer incidence and prognosis are influenced by vitamin D intake and expression of the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Polymorphisms of the VDR are linked to several diseases. This study was aimed to investigate whether variants of the VDR poly(A) microsatellite are associated with colorectal cancer incidence.
Materials and methods: The poly(A) polymorphism was analyzed in a series of 255 colorectal cancer patients and 255 controls of Caucasian origin (case-control study) by a combination of GeneScan and sequencing.
Results: There was a distinct separation between long and short alleles. We found 19, 20, 21, and 22 A-repeats for the long variant and 14 and 15 A-repeats for the short variant. Frequencies of long and short alleles did not differ between cases and controls, nor did frequencies of any single variant.
Conclusion: Our findings do not support an association between VDR poly(A) variants and the incidence of colorectal cancer.