MTHFR C677 T gene polymorphism in lymphoproliferative diseases

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), a key enzyme in folate metabolism, has been implicated in cancer risk. In the present study we used a melting curve analysis to investigate the association of the common MTHFR C677 T polymorphism with lymphoproliferative diseases. Patients (n=117) were compared with age- and sex-matched control subjects (n=154). Our results indicate that the 677 T variant occurred less frequently in patients (26%) than in the control group (33.7%; P=0.05). Investigation of the variant allele (677 T) frequency in the subgroups with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) and B-cell neoplasms (BCNs) revealed that this difference was a result of the significantly lower distribution of the variant allele in patients with HL (20.5%; P=0.01). This was accompanied by a significantly higher frequency of the homozygote normal genotype (677CC) among the patients with HL. In patients with BCNs the distribution of the variant allele (30.3%) was comparable to that in the control group (P=0.47). However, the difference between HL (20.5%) and BCNs (30.3%) did not reach statistical significance (P=0.09). Our results suggest that the distribution of the C677 T polymorphism may vary among lymphoproliferative diseases.