MTHFR C677T polymorphism and its relation to ischemic stroke in the Black Sea Turkish population

The MTHFR C677T mutation has been shown to be associated with venous thrombosis. The role of this mutation in ischemic stroke is unclear. We investigated whether the MTHFR mutation is a risk factor for patients with ischemic stroke in the Black Sea Turkish population or not. We analyzed 30 patients (19 male, 11 female) [median age: 50 years (range: 28-78)] with ischemic stroke who had no known predisposition factors for stroke and 242 (182 male, 60 female) healthy controls [median age: 42 years (range: 18-65)]. Detection of the MTHFR C677T mutation was performed by using commercially available allele-specific PCR-ELISA kits. Prevalence of the MTHFR C677T genotype was 49.1% (CT, 45.8%; TT, 3.3%) in controls and 50% (CT, 43.3%; TT, 6.6%) in patients [OR: 1.03, 95% CI (0.45-2.35]). The prevalence of homozygous gene mutation for MTHFR was higher among patients with stroke than control subjects, but this difference was not statistically significant. The MTHFR gene mutation is not a risk factor for ischemic stroke formation in patients from the Black Sea region in Turkey.