ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: Rheumatoid arthritis [RA] is an autoimmune disease. It seems that the function of regulatory T cells [Tregs] is compromised in RA. Foxp3 is a critical transcription factor of these cells. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of vitamin D plasma level with Foxp3 gene expression in the patients with RA
Material and Methods: 18 untreated RA patients and 41 healthy people participated in this study. Plasma levels of vitamin D were measured by competitive ELISA method. Foxp3 gene expression was also determined by using realtime PCR technique
Results: The expression of Foxp3 gene was significantly lower in RA patients compared to that in the healthy controls [p<0.001] .There was no significant relationship between vitamin D plasma levels with the rate of Foxp3 gene expression
Conclusion: We found low levels of vitamin D could not affect the expression of Foxp3 gene. It seems that vitamin D deficiency cannot be considered as an effective environmental factor in the pathogenesis of RA