{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T18:09:41Z","timestamp":1793210981545,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,3]],"date-time":"2021-04-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1617408000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"The Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT)","award":["S-MIP-17-12"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["S-MIP-17-12"]}]},{"name":"The European Regional Development Fund under a grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT)","award":["01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0023"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01.2.2-LMT-K-718-01-0023"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune, multi-factorial disease, in which environmental and genetic factors play a major role. RA is possibly linked to vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms, and research demonstrates that FokI variant susceptibility is associated with increased disease risk among Caucasians. The aim of this study was to evaluate vitamin D deficiency prevalence and its correlation to RA clinical parameters, and to determine the possible association of VDR gene polymorphisms and RA susceptibility in the Lithuanian population. Materials and Methods: Overall, 206 RA patients and 180 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled at Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos after informed consent was obtained. The disease activity score 28 C-reactive protein (DAS28 CRP), rheumatoid arthritis impact of disease (RAID) score, and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) were recorded in RA patients, and 25(OH)D serum levels were evaluated by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay for all subjects. Four VDR gene polymorphisms, BsmI, FokI, ApaI, and TaqI, were assessed using real-time PCR instruments and genotyping assays in both groups. Results: The study registered a high prevalence of 25(OH)D deficiency (&lt;50 nmol\/L) in RA patients (61.55% (n = 127)). The mean serum concentration in RA patients (44.96 \u00b1 21.92 (nmol\/L)) was significantly lower than in the healthy controls (54.90 \u00b1 22.82 (nmol\/L)), p &lt; 0.0001. A significant inverse correlation between vitamin D level, DAS28 CRP, and HAQ scores was confirmed in RA patients, with p &lt; 0.05. Still, there was no significant association between the overall risk of RA disease for any allele or genotype of the four VDR loci tested. Conclusions: The study confirmed that vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among RA patients and the 25(OH)D level is significantly lower compared with healthy controls. Lower vitamin D concentration was related with increased disease activity and disability scores. However, genetic analysis of four VDR polymorphisms did not confer the susceptibility to RA in Lithuanian population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina57040346","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,3]],"date-time":"2021-04-03T22:03:36Z","timestamp":1617487416000},"page":"346","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Vitamin D and VDR Gene Polymorphisms\u2019 Association with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Lithuanian Population"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"57","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6229-4177","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Egle","family":"Punceviciene","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic of Rheumatology, Traumatology Orthopaedics and Reconstructive Surgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. \u010ciurlionio str. 21, 03101Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"State Research Institute Centre for Innovative Medicine, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 5, 08406 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Centre of Rheumatology, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros klinikos, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 2, 08661 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Justina","family":"Gaizevska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Life Sciences Center, Institute of Biosciences, Vilnius University, Saul\u0117tekio av. 7, 10257 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"National Cancer Institute, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 1, 08660 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rasa","family":"Sabaliauskaite","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Cancer Institute, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 1, 08660 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1166-7199","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lina","family":"Venceviciene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre of Family Medicine, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 2, 08406 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Clinic of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. \u010ciurlionio str. 21, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alina","family":"Puriene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Odontology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. \u010ciurlionio str. 21, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Vilnius University Hospital \u017dalgiris Clinic, \u017dalgirio str. 115, 08217 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0912-4125","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dalius","family":"Vitkus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. \u010ciurlionio str. 21, 03101 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Centre of Laboratory Medicine, Vilnius University Hospital Santarosklinikos, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 2, 08661 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sonata","family":"Jarmalaite","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Life Sciences Center, Institute of Biosciences, Vilnius University, Saul\u0117tekio av. 7, 10257 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"National Cancer Institute, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 1, 08660 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Irena","family":"Butrimiene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinic of Rheumatology, Traumatology Orthopaedics and Reconstructive Surgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, M. K. \u010ciurlionio str. 21, 03101Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"State Research Institute Centre for Innovative Medicine, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 5, 08406 Vilnius, Lithuania"},{"name":"Centre of Rheumatology, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros klinikos, Santari\u0161ki\u0173 str. 2, 08661 Vilnius, Lithuania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1007\/s00223-019-00577-2","article-title":"Vitamin D, autoimmune disease and rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"106","author":"Harrison","year":"2020","journal-title":"Calcif. Tissue Int."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"175","article-title":"One year in review 2018: Pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis","volume":"36","author":"Calabresi","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin. Exp. 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