Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and breast cancer risk among postmenopausal Egyptian women

Many studies reported that vitamin D can protect against various types of cancers. The mechanism of vitamin D action is mediated by the vitamin D receptor (VDR). VDR may have anti-stress function because it has been identified as p53 direct target gene. This research was designed to investigate the role of VDR polymorphisms BsmI (rs 1544410), ApaI (rs 7975232), TaqI (rs 731236), and FokI (rs 10735810) in pathogenesis of breast cancer using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. The study included 130 postmenopausal breast cancer cases aged 49 to 65 years and 100 controls aged 50 to 72 years. A significantly increased risk of breast cancer among carriers of BsmI bb genotype was observed (OR = 2.5 (1.1-5.6), P = 0.025). Also, a significantly increased risk of breast cancer was detected among women carrying ApaI aa genotype (OR = 2.2 (1.02-4.5), P = 0.04), while no significant associations were observed between breast cancer risk and genotypes and allele frequencies of FokI and TaqI polymorphisms (P > 0.05). Our study showed that VDR gene polymorphisms (BsmI and ApaI) may contribute to breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women.