Abstract
Background
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a rare neurodegenerative disease that affects motor neurons and promotes progressive muscle atrophy. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGF-A) plays multiple roles in the central nervous systems (CNS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) VEGF-A rs28357093 and ALS.
Methods and Results
This case-control study was conducted in 101 ALS patients and 119 healthy individuals. Genotyping was performed by Polymerase Chain Reaction – Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The statistical analysis was carried out using the RStudio® and SNPStats© software’s. Analysis of genetic inheritance models was performed by logistic regression. Our findings demonstrated a strong association between VEGF- A rs28357093 and ALS in all genetic inheritance models, with a 9-fold increased risk for A/C – C/C genotypes (95%CI = 3.70-21.88; p < 0.001).
Conclusions
The mutant allele was more frequent in ALS patients (p < 0.001) and this finding could be associated with ALS risk. This first study from the Brazilian central population was conducted to provide new insight into the pathogenesis of ALS.
Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all individuals who voluntarily participated in this study and the State Rehabilitation and Readaptation Medical Center Dr. Henrique Santillo (CRER) for their support with the samples used. This work was supported by personal resources from the research coordinators (Angela Adamski da Silva Reis, Ph.D., and Rodrigo da Silva Santos, Ph.D.).
Funding
This study was supported by the Programa de Pós-Graduação em Assistência e Avaliação em Saúde from Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG); and personal resources from the research coordinators (Angela Adamski da Silva Reis, Ph.D., and Rodrigo da Silva Santos, Ph.D.).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Caroline Christine Pincela da Costa, Nayane Soares de Lima, Dhiogo da Cruz Pereira Bento, Rodrigo da Silva Santos and Angela Adamski da Silva Reis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Caroline Christine Pincela da Costa, Rodrigo da Silva Santos, and Angela Adamski da Silva Reis, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of Federal University of Goiás, under protocol number CAAE 79593117.7.0000.5083.
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da Costa, C.C.P., de Lima, N.S., da Cruz Pereira Bento, D. et al. A strong association between VEGF-A rs28357093 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a brazilian genetic study. Mol Biol Rep 49, 9129–9133 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07647-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07647-z