Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and type 1 diabetes mellitus in Iranian population.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is one of the T-cell mediated autoimmune diseases and vitamin D suppresses activation of T-cell and has immunomodulatory effects. In this study the association between four vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms, at positions FokI, BsmI, ApaI and TaqI, and susceptibility to T1DM was investigated. We assessed 87 Iranian patients with T1DM and one hundred healthy controls with no history of diabetes or other autoimmune diseases.