Growth Differentiation Factor 5 (GDF5) Polymorphism and Risk of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Aim: The present case-control study was designed to determine the association of GDF5 gene Polymorphism with risk of occurrence of Osteoarthritis especially knee osteoarthritis and to find any significant association of the polymorphism with the severity of the disease.
Material and Methods: 200 samples were collected out of which 100 were confirmed cases of Knee osteoarthritis and 100 were healthy controls which conducted at VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi.
Results: On evaluation it was found that there was a significant difference in genotypic distribution between the case and control groups (χ²= 5.016, p=0.04). The wild type C allele was higher in control group than cases which is statistically significant (OR= 1.679, CI (95%) = 1.114-2.530, p= 0.006). Other genetic comparison also revealed significant results, there by resulting in a conclusion that GDF gene polymorphism increases the risk of occurrence of Knee osteoarthritis. But on comparison between various sub groups of cases based on KL grade, none of the association was statistically significant showing that the grading score has no association (p>0.05) with GDF5 polymorphism (rs143833).
Conclusion: Our results revealed a positive association between the GDF5 polymorphism (rs143383) and Knee OA where TT genotype has an increased risk of occurrence of OA in North Indian population, whereas no significant difference could be concluded between genotype and severity of the disease.