Association between VEGF polymorphisms and diabetic retinopathy in Thai patients with type 2 diabetes

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an angiogenic factor that contributes to the vascular permeability and neovascularization. This study aims to investigate whether the polymorphisms of the VEGF gene at the -2578C/A (rs699947) and -634 G/C (rs2010963) are risk factors for diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Thai patients with type 2 diabetes.

We conducted a case-control study. Thai patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled in the study and assigned to a diabetic with retinopathy (DR) or a diabetic without retinopathy (DWR) group based on the grading of retina images. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to determine polymorphisms of the VEGF gene at the -2578C/A and -634 G/C loci.

A total of 85 patients, including 37 with DR and 48 without DR, were enrolled in this study. We found that the genotype distributions and allele frequencies for the VEGF-2578C/A (rs699947) and VEGF-634 G/C (rs2010963) polymorphisms did not differ between the patients with DR and those without DR. Neither polymorphism was significantly associated with DR development.

Our data suggest that VEGF-2578C/A (rs699947) and VEGF-634 G/C (rs2010963) polymorphisms may not be the risk factors for DR in Thai patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.