MTHFR Gene Polymorphism-Mutations and Air Pollution as Risk Factors for Breast Cancer: A Metaprediction Study

The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR) is one of the most investigated genes associated with breast cancer for its role in epigenetic pathways.

The objectives of this metaprediction study were to examine the polymorphism-mutation risk subtypes of MTHFR and air pollution as contributing factors for breast cancer.

For triangulation purposes in metapredictive analyses, we used a recursive partition tree, nonlinear association curve fit, and heat maps for data visualization, in addition to the conventional comparison procedure and pooled analyses.

We included 36,683 breast cancer cases and 40,689 controls across 82 studies for MTHFR 677 and 23,252 cases and 27,094 controls across 50 studies for MTHFR 1298. MTHFR 677 TT was a risk genotype for breast cancer (p = .0004) and in the East Asian subgroup (p = .005). On global maps, the most polymorphism-mutations on MTHFR 677 TT were found in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, whereas the most mutations on MTHFR 1298 CC were located in Europe and the Middle East for the control group. The geographic information system maps further revealed that MTHFR 677 TT mutations yielded a higher risk of breast cancer for Australia, East Asia, the Middle East, South Europe, Morocco, and the Americas and that MTHFR 1298 CC mutations yielded a higher risk in Asia, the Middle East, South Europe, and South America. Metapredictive analysis revealed that air pollution level was significantly associated with MTHFR 677 TT polymorphism-mutation genotype.

We present the most comprehensive analyses to date of MTHFR polymorphism-mutations and breast cancer risk. Future nursing studies are needed to investigate the health impact on breast cancer of epigenetics and air pollution across populations.