Association Of VEGF Gene Polymorphisms With Diabetic Retinopathy In The Uygur Population

Objective: To investigate the relationships between single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs)in the VEGF gene and the development of DR in the Uygur population with type 2diabetes mellitus(T2DM).Methods: Case-control study.A total of 302 patients with T2DM(164 participants with T2 DM without retinopathy [DWR],66 with nonproliferative DR [NPDR],72 with proliferative DR [PDR])and 234 subjects without T2DM(control group [CG])were recruited.DNA from each patient was analyzed for three SNPs(rs17697515,rs2333526,rs17697419)in the VEGFC gene and five SNPs(rs10434,rs833061,rs2010963,rs699947,rs3025021)in the VEGFA gene using GeneMapper compact analyzer.Results: There was no difference in terms of hypertension、age and sex(P>0.05)between DWR,NPDR and PDR groups.After pairwise comparison between DWR,NPDR,PDR and CG,the genotype and allele frequencies of rs17697419,rs2010963,rs699947 and rs833061 were associated with DR(P = 0.019;P=0.047;P =0.009;P = 0.009,respectively).The significance was lost after Bonferroni correction(Pc= 0.114;Pc = 0.282;Pc = 0.054;Pc = 0.054).Conclusion: Among Uygur individuals with T2 DM,rs17697515,rs2333526,rs3025021 and rs10434 of the VEGF gene were not correlated with DR in Uygur population.The association between SNPs rs17697419,rs2010963,rs699947,rs833061 and development of DR in Uygur nationality need to be further confirmed.