Association of VEGF gene polymorphisms with sporadic Parkinson’s disease in Chinese Han population

Recent evidence indicates that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is capable of protecting dopaminergic (DA) neurons. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. To evaluate the role of VEGF single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes in PD, we performed a case–control study including 400 PD patients and 400 healthy-matched controls. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) analysis and DNA sequencing were used to detect the rs699947, rs2010963 and rs3025039 polymorphisms of the VEGF gene in cases and controls. Our study revealed that T allelic frequency of rs3025039 polymorphism was significantly higher in PD subjects (OR 1.497, 95 % CI 1.099–2.040, P = 0.013) than that in controls. Significant association for rs3025039 could be found in additive model (TT vs. CT vs. CC: OR 1.489, 95 % CI 1.018–2.177, P = 0.040) and dominant model (TT + CT vs. CC: OR 1.538, 95 % CI 1.068–2.216, P = 0.021). Subgroup analyses performed by gender suggested that this association could be found in male, but not in female. Moreover, it also demonstrated a significant association in the subgroup of late-onset PD (LOPD). However, for rs699947 and rs2010963 polymorphisms, genotype or allele frequencies did not differ between groups. No significant association could be found between rs699947 and rs2010963 polymorphism and PD risk. None of the observed haplotypes showed significant association with PD. Therefore, these results suggested that the VEGF gene might be associated with risk of developing sporadic PD in Han Chinese and the rs3025039 polymorphism may be a risk factor for sporadic PD.