Objective: To investigate the influence of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms on susceptibility to type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in the Chinese Han population.
Method: One hundred and thirty-six Chinese Han people, including 54 T1DM patients and 82 unrelated healthy subjects as control were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for three restriction sites in the VDR gene, which were ApaI, TaqI, and BamI.
Results: The frequency of B allele of BsmI site in VDR gene was significantly higher in T1DM patients than in healthy subjects (P = 0.033) while no difference was found between the two groups in the distribution of ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms.
Conclusion: The BsmI polymorphism of VDR gene may be associated with the susceptibility to T1DM in the Chinese Han population of Beijing.