Association of a Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor genetic variant with Serum VEGF level in subjects with Metabolic Syndrome

Background The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a clustering of metabolic disorders that is associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular-disease, diabetes, and related diseases. Against this background, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) plays an essential role in angiogenesis, vascular permeability, and hematopoiesis and its increased level is reported to be associated with increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular-disease, stroke and diabetes. Therefore the aim of present study was to explore the association of serum VEGF level and its associated genetic-polymorphism, rs10738760 (A > G) at 9p24.2, in 850 subjects with/without MetS. Methods MetS was defined according to the International-Diabetes-Federation criteria. Genotyping was carried out using Polymerase chain reaction-amplification refractory mutation system. Anthropometric/biochemical parameters, including FBG, Triglyceride, HDL, TC, etc., were determined followed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results MetS patients had significantly higher levels of BMI, waist-circumference, cholesterol, triglyceride, Hs-CRP and SBP/DBP, while the HDL-C levels was lower in patients group, compared to control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, our analysis showed that MetS patients with GA or AA genotypes had a significantly (P = 0.03) higher serum level of VEGF. Conclusions we demonstrate an association between a VEGF genetic variant with MetS, suggesting its role as a risk stratification factor for MetS.