Association between FOXP3 (rs3761548) promoter polymorphism with vitiligo patients, their clinical data and response to phototherapy: A study from Egypt

Abstract

Background: The rs3761548 polymorphism (3279 C>A) of the FOXP3 gene is associated with several autoimmune disorders. Its role in vitiligo has not been well studied.We sought to investigate whether rs3761548 polymorphism is associated with vitiligo in Egyptian subjects.Methods:Case-control study where genomic DNA was isolated from blood samples of 100 patients and 100 control subjects and genotyping was done by allele-specific primers. Given that FOXP3 is an X-linked marker, data analysis was done for the entire cohort and then stratified based on the gender.Results:The genotype frequencies differed significantly from patients to control subjects showing that AC genotype was significantly higher in the patient group than control subjects (risky genotype ) despite of the protective nature of CC genotype which observed in our study. According to the alleles , the A allele was higher in the patient than in the control group .Insignificant results were reported according to the association between FOXP3 (rs3761548) promoter polymorphism and clinical data of patients and their response to phototherapy.Conclusions: The rs3761548 of FOXP3 gene may be associated with susceptibility to vitiligo because of altered expression.Both the A allele and AC genotype were significantly associated with vitiligo .