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Vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)is a cytokine essential for angiogenesis. A recent study found that haplotypes, determined by three SNPs(  -  2,578C/A,  -  1,154 G/A, and  -  634G/C)in theVEGFupstream promoter/leader sequence, were associated with risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS). We used samples and data from a case-control study to examine the relation of ALS toVEGFhaplotype. Genotypes at each of the three polymorphic sites were determined using allele-specific primer extension reactions followed by MALDI-TOF. We found a 3-fold increased risk among individuals homozygous for the AAG or AGG haplotypes(95%CI  =  0.7  -  13.4), consistent with the findings of the previous study. Given the wide confidence interval, our findings should be interpreted cautiously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]