To investigate the genotype and allele frequency of vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms in knee osteoarthritis (OA) and their relationship with disease activity and lipid profile, we enrolled 49 knee OA patients and 75 healthy subjects (HS) as a control group. Body mass index (BMI), laboratorial assessment and genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphisms (PCR-RFLP) were studied in both groups. Disease activity was determined using Lequesne and WOMAC indexes; a P value<0.05 was considered significant. The -460 and +405 VEGF polymorphisms did not shown significant association between OA patients and HS. However, between OA patients and HS a significant differences were observed in BMI, age, apo A-I and apo B, independently of both polymorphisms studied (P<0.05). In conclusion, increased apo A-1 and apo B levels are associated in knee OA, but the -460 T/C and +405 C/G VEGF polymorphisms are not associated with knee OA susceptibility.