Vascular endothelial growth factor +405 C/G polymorphism is highly associated with an increased risk of endometriosis in Turkish women.

OBJECTIVE

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disease characterized by the growth of hormonally responsive, endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. The present study aims to analyze two vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphisms (-460 C/T and +405 C/G) in Turkish women with and without endometriosis.

STUDY DESIGN

A case-control study was undertaken at the Infertility Department of Zekai Tahir Burak Women's Health Care Education and Research Hospital. The single nucleotide polymorphisms, -460 C/T and +405 C/G, in the 5'-untranslated region of the VEGF gene were tested in 98 affected women and 94 women with no laparoscopic evidence of disease. Endometriosis was also confirmed histologically. Following genomic extraction of genomic DNA, genotyping of the -460 C/T and +405 C/G polymorphisms of the VEGF gene were performed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. Nominal data were evaluated by Pearson Chi-square or Fisher's Exact test, where applicable. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were also calculated. A P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Demographic data were similar among groups. The genotype and allele frequencies of the -460 C/T polymorphism did not differ significantly between cases and controls. In contrast, the genotype (P < 0.001) and allele frequencies (P < 0.001) of +405 C/G polymorphism showed a significant difference between cases and controls. Regardless of the early or advanced stage, women with endometriosis showed a higher incidence of the +405 GC genotype and +405G allele when compared with the controls.

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that VEGF +405 GC genotype and +405G allele may be associated with the risk of developing early and advanced stage endometriosis in the Turkish population.