The College of Science, The University of Basrah, discussed a doctoral dissertation titled (The Correlation of Polymorphism of the VDR Gene and the Gene Expression of HMGB1 with Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients in Basrah) by the graduate Student Alaa Abdul-Hussein Saleh, and the number of its chapters was four. The study aims to determine the polymorphism of the VDR gene and its association with rheumatoid arthritis patients in Basrah and to find the relationship between vitamin D and the level of the HMGB1 protein.

The study recommended doing more studies about (The cytokines in patients and their relationship to vitamin D deficiency, as well as studying the environmental factors associated with an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis).