<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the influence of
vitamin D receptor (VDR)
gene polymorphisms on susceptibility to
type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in the
Chinese Han
population.</p><p><b>
METHOD</b>One hundred and thirty-six
Chinese Han people, including 54 T1DM
patients and 82 unrelated
healthy subjects as control were genotyped by
polymerase chain reaction-
restriction fragment length polymorphism for three restriction sites in the VDR
gene, which were ApaI, TaqI, and BamI.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequency of B
allele of BsmI site in VDR
gene was significantly higher in T1DM
patients than in
healthy subjects (P = 0.033) while no difference was found between the two groups in the distribution of ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The BsmI polymorphism of VDR
gene may be associated with the susceptibility to T1DM in the
Chinese Han
population of
Beijing.</p>