The action of vitamin D3 is mediated by vitamin D receptor (VDR). The VDR is expressed on both normal and cancerous blood cells.. Around 200 variations have been identified in the VDR gene. These variations affect the protein present in the human. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is used to treat patients with life threatening blood cancers. In transplantation group of proteins called HLA (human leukocyte antigen) located on the surface of white blood cells and other cells in the body must be shared between a patient and donor. The more the sharing the better is the transplant outcome. The study conducted at our centre suggests that low Vit.D levels post supplementation affects transplant outcomes. Since vitamin D3 binds to vitamin D receptor (VDR) we plan to study the VDR genetic forms along with HLA genes to understand their role in graft outcome post BMT.

A total of 200 patients/donors undergoing HLA matched sibling HSCT will be included in this study. Serum vitamin D3 levels is done by ELISA as a part of pre HSCT work up in all patients. Patients who have undergone (retrospective) as well as those who will be taken for HLA matched sibling HSCT (prospective) will be included for VDR and HLA genotyping. This will include patients/donors (n=100) who underwent HSCT between December 2008 to May 2020 in the retrospective arm. Patients/donors who will undergo HSCT from the time of study approval (n=100) onwards will be included in prospective arm. Representative patients/donors from the prospective arm (n=50) will be investigated for VDR expression analysis, lymphocyte subsets, cytokine levels and expression in peripheral blood.