Association of vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease in Hungarians

•Genotyping for four polymorphic sites in the VDR gene in patients with Parkinson's disease.•Association was detected between FokI C polymorphism and Parkinson's disease.•No association could be detected between ApaI, BsmI, TaqI polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease.

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene encodes a transcription factor that influences calcium homeostasis and immunoregulation, and may play a role in neurological disorders including Parkinson's disease (PD). The investigations of the association between VDR and PD in different populations revealed various results. In a present study 100 PD patients and 109 healthy controls from the Hungarian population were genotyped for four polymorphic sites (BsmI, ApaI, FokI and TaqI) in the VDR gene. The polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Our results demonstrate an association between the FokI C allele and PD; the frequency of the C allele was significantly higher in PD patients than in controls, suggesting that this polymorphism may have a role in the development of PD in these patients.