Association of interleukin 1beta and receptor antagonist gene polymorphisms with primary open-angle glaucoma.

Purpose: Genetic factors are known to play a role in the etiology of glaucoma. More specifically, the role of the immune system is highly suspected. We evaluated the association between 2 polymorphisms in the interleukin (IL) 1beta gene (IL-1 promoter 511, IL-1 exon 5) and 1 polymorphism in the IL-1 gene receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) intron 2 with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Association of E-cadherin gene 3'-UTR C/T polymorphism with calcium oxalate stone disease.

Introduction: Urinary stone disease is one of the most commonly seen urological diseases in Taiwan. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are commonly used for the investigation of genetic markers for stone disease. E-cadherin (CDH-1) is one of the cellular junction proteins related to the integrity of epithelial cells.

Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphism is associated with calcium oxalate stone disease.

Growth factor-related genes regulate cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis in the kidney in response to cellular injury. One of the theories of stone formation is that cellular injury, and thus growth factors, play a role. We therefore investigated the association between growth factor genes and calcium oxalate stone disease.

p21 gene codon 31 polymorphism is associated with bladder cancer.

The function of p21 is related to cell apoptosis, progression and malignancies. It is thought that p21 is related to cancer formation but is not related to tumor grade. We aimed to investigative the polymorphism of p21 codon 31 as a candidate for the genetic marker of bladder cancer and its progression.

Relation of vitamin D receptor FokI start codon polymorphism to bone mineral density and occurrence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women in Taiwan.

Background: Osteoporosis is a common disorder with a strong genetic component. Our aim was to evaluate the correlation of the vitamin D receptor FokI start codon polymorphism to bone mineral density and the occurence of osteoporosis.

Methods: We determined the vitamin D receptor FokI start codon polymorphism using polymerase chain reaction-based restriction analysis in 163 postmenopausal women in Taiwan.