Genetic factors and anterior cruciate ligament injury risk in professional football players: COL3A1 (rs1800255) and COL5A1 (rs12722) polymorphisms

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the genotype and allele distributions of COL3A1 (rs1800255) and COL5A1 (rs12722) polymorphisms of professional footballers who have suffered at least 2 anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries non-contact and professional footballers who have never had a ligament injury. The research group consists of 108 professional men's football players ACL group (n=45), Control group (n=63) with at least 10 years of football background. The results ACL and control groups were compared by Chi-square or Fischer’s exact test. There were no significant differences noted neither in terms of genotype distribution of COL3A1 (rs1800255) nor A-allele frequency distribution between control (CON) and ACL group. A highly significant difference in the allele distribution was noted for COL5A1 (rs12722) with the T-allele significantly less frequent in CON than ACL. The TT genotype compared to the C alleles (TC + CC) showed significant relationship between the TT genotype and ACL injury potential in the dominant model. However, it was not showing significance in the recessive (TT + TC vs. CC). In conclusion, it can be said that professional football players who have the COL5A1 rs12722 C allele have about 2 times lower risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury. In the COL3A1 rs1800255 polymorphism, there is no relationship between the groups in terms of genotypes and allele distribution.