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.

中文翻译：

---

血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）基因的+405 G/C单核苷酸多态性与晚发性白癜风有关吗？

越来越多的证据表明血管内皮生长因子 (VEGF) 多态性与自身免疫性疾病之间的关系以及这种血管生成因子在白斑病中的表达增强，使得 VEGF 成为在白斑病中进行研究的非常有趣的候选基因。本研究的目的是评估 VEGF 基因 (rs2010963) 的 +405 G/C 单核苷酸多态性 (SNP) 与白斑病之间可能的关联。本研究评估了 152 名白癜风患者和 152 名匹配对照的独立病例对照人群样本。为每位白癜风患者完成问卷以记录患者的人口统计学和临床​​特征。所有登记的个体都收集了静脉血样本。使用聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 扩增和限制性片段长度多态性 (RFLP) 分析确定 +405 G/C VEGF 基因多态性的基因型频率。病例和对照之间该 SNP 的基因型或等位基因分布没有显着差异。然而，我们观察到 GG 基因型与白癜风发病年龄较高之间存在显着关联（p = 0.04）。此外，患者分层显示，与晚发型（≥20 岁）白癜风患者的 CC + CG 基因型相比，GG 基因型的频率显着增加（p = 0.05）。虽然这些结果不是决定性的，但它们可能会导致考虑将血管生成因子作为治疗迟发性白癜风的潜在靶点。