Skip to main content
Log in

A strong association between VEGF-A rs28357093 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a brazilian genetic study

  • Rapid Communication
  • Published:
Molecular Biology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

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.

References

  1. Prado LGR, Bicalho ICS, Vidigal-Lopes M, Ferreira CJA, Mageste-Barbosa LS, Gomez RS, De Souza LC, Teixeira AL (2016) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Brazil: Case series and review of the Brazilian literature. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener 17:282–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hardiman O, Al-Chalabi A, Chio A, Corr EM, Logroscino, Robberecht W, Shaw PJ, Simmons Z, van den Berg LH (2017) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers 3:17085

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Masrori P, Van Damme P (2020) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a clinical review. Eur J Neurol 27:1918–1929

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lambrechts D, Carmeliet P (2006) VEGF at the neurovascular interface: therapeutic implications for motor neuron disease. Biochim Biophys Acta 1762:1109–1121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pronto-Laborinho AC, Pinto S, de Carvalho M (2014) Roles of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Biomed Res Int 2014

  6. Lambrechts D, Poesen K, Fernández-Santiago R, Al-Chalabi A, Del Bo R, Van Vught PWJ, Khan S, Marklund SL, Brockington A, van Marion I, Anneser J, Shaw C, Ludolph AC, Leigh NP, Comi GP, Gasser T, Shaw PJ, Morrison KE, Andersen PM, Van den Berg LH, Thijs V, Siddique T, Robberecht W, Carmeliet P (2009) Meta-analysis of vascular endothelial growth factor variations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: increased susceptibility in male carriers of the – 2578AA genotype. J Med Genet 46:840–846

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Little J, Higgins JP, Ioannidis JP, Moher D, Gagnon F, von Elm E, Khoury MJ, Cohen B, Davey-Smith G, Grimshaw J, Scheet P, Gwinn M, Williamson RE, Zou GY, Hutchings K, Johnson CY, Tait V, Wiens M, Golding J, van Duijn C, McLaughlin J, Paterson A, Wells G, Fortier I, Freedman M, Zecevic M, King R, Infante-Rivard C, Stewart A, Birkett N (2009) STrengthening the REporting of Genetic Association Studies (STREGA)--an extension of the STROBE statement. Genet Epidemiol 33:581–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Holt RCL, Ralph SA, Webb NJA, Watson CJ, Clark AGB, Mathieson PW, Brenchley PEC (2003) Steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome and vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms. Eur J Immunogenet 30:1–3

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Reis AAS, Alcântara KC, Farias DLC, dos Anjos LRB, Rodrigues DA, Pedrino GR, Santos RS (2019) The influence of MTHFR C677T polymorphism in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Electrophoresis 40:1715–1718

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. D’Ovidio F, Rooney JPK, Visser AE, Manera U, Beghi E, Logroscino G, Vermeulen RCH, Veldink JH, van den Berg LH, Hardiman O, Chiò A, Euro (2019) Association between alcohol exposure and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the Euro-MOTOR study. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 90:11–19-MOTOR consortium

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lian L, Liu M, Cui L, Guan Y, Liu T, Cui B, Zhang K, Tai H, Shen D (2019) Environmental risk factors and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): A case-control study of ALS in China. J Clin Neurosci 66:12–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. de Jong SW, Huisman MHB, Sutedja NA, van der Kooi AJ, de Visser M, Schelhaas HJ, Fischer K, Veldink JH, van den Berg LH (2012) Smoking, alcohol consumption, and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a population-based study. Am J Epidemiol 176:233–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Churchill AJ, Carter JG, Ramsden C, Turner SJ, Yeung A, Brenchley PEC, Ray DW (2008) VEGF polymorphisms are associated with severity of diabetic retinopathy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 49:3611–3616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lambrechts D, Storkebaum E, Morimoto M, Del-Favero J, Desmet F, Marklund SL, Wyns S, Thijs V, Andersson J, van Marion I, Al-Chalabi A, Bornes S, Musson R, Hansen V, Beckman L, Adolfsson R, Pall HS, Prats H, Vermeire S, Rutgeerts P, Katayama S, Awata T, Leigh N, Lang-Lazdunski L, Dewerchin M, Shaw C, Moons L, Vlietinck R, Morrison KE, Robberecht W, Van Broeckhoven C, Collen D, Andersen PM, Carmeliet P (2003) VEGF is a modifier of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in mice and humans and protects motoneurons against ischemic death. Nat Genet 34:383–394

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Lange C, Storkebaum E, de Almodóvar CR, Dewerchin M, Carmeliet P (2016) Vascular endothelial growth factor: a neurovascular target in neurological diseases. Nat Rev Neurol 12:439–454

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Salajegheh A, Smith RA, Kasem K, Gopalan V, Nassiri MR, William R, Lam AKY (2011) Single nucleotide polymorphisms and mRNA expression of VEGF-A in papillary thyroid carcinoma: potential markers for aggressive phenotypes. Eur J Surg Oncol 37:93–99

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang YC, Peterson SE, Loring JF (2014) Protein post-translational modifications and regulation of pluripotency in human stem cells. Cell Res 24:143–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Devos D, Moreau C, Lassalle P, Perez T, De Seze J, Brunaud-Danel V, Destée A, Tonnel AB, Just N (2004) Low levels of the vascular endothelial growth factor in CSF from early ALS patients. Neurology 62:2127–2129

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Maloney JP, Gao L (2015) Proinflammatory Cytokines Increase Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression in Alveolar Epithelial Cells. Mediators Inflamm 2015:387842

  20. Proescholdt MA, Heiss JD, Walbridge S, Mühlhauser J, Capogrossi MC, Oldfield EH, Merrill MJ (1999) Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) modulates vascular permeability and inflammation in rat brain. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 58:613–627

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Hooten KG, Beers DR, Zhao W, Appel SH (2015) Protective and Toxic Neuroinflammation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Neurotherapeutics 12:364–375

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Khosla R, Rain M, Chawathey S, Modgil S, Tyagi R, Thakur K, Pannu V, Sharma SK, Anand A (2020) Identifying putative cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in a north Indian population. Muscle Nerve 62:528–533

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Gao L, Zhou S, Cai H, Gong Z, Zang D (2014) VEGF levels in CSF and serum in mild ALS patients. J Neurol Sci 346:216–220

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Gupta PK, Prabhakar S, Sharma S, Anand A (2011) Vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and chemokine ligand-2 (CCL2) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. J Neuroinflammation 8:47

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Hu Y, Cao C, Qin X-Y, Yu Y, Yuan J, Zhao Y, Cheng Y (2017) Increased peripheral blood inflammatory cytokine levels in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a meta-analysis study. Sci Rep 7:9094

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

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.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

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.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Rodrigo da Silva Santos or Angela Adamski da Silva Reis.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

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.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent to publish

The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for the data publication.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

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

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07647-z

Keywords

Navigation