The vitamin D receptor (VDR), a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily of transcriptional
regulators, is crucial to calcitriol signalling. VDR is regulated by genetic and environmental
factors and it is hypothesised that the response to vitamin D supplementation could be modulated
by genetic variants in the VDR gene. The best studied polymorphisms in the VDR gene are Apal
(rs7975232), BsmI (rs1544410), Taql (rs731236) and Fokl (rs10735810). We conducted a systematic review
and meta-analysis to evaluate the response to vitamin D supplementation according to the BsmI,
TaqI, ApaI and FokI polymorphisms. We included studies that analysed the relationship between
the response to vitamin D supplementation and the genotypic distribution of these polymorphisms.
We included eight studies that enrolled 1038 subjects. The results showed no significant association
with the BsmI and ApaI polymorphisms (p = 0.081 and p = 0.63) and that the variant allele (Tt+tt)
of the TaqI polymorphism and the FF genotype of the FokI variant were associated with a better
response to vitamin D supplementation (p = 0.02 and p < 0.001). In conclusion, the TaqI and FokI
polymorphisms could play a role in the modulation of the response to vitamin D supplementation, as
they are associated with a better response to supplementation.
