Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphisms and acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk: a meta-analysis based on 28 case–control studies

Abstract

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is involved in DNA methylation and nucleotide synthesis. Accumulated evidence has demonstrated that C677T and A1298C polymorphisms of the MTHFR gene are associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) risk, but the results have been inconclusive. To determine a more precise estimation, we performed a meta-analysis of 28 studies with 4240 cases and 9289 controls. We found that the 677TT genotype showed a reduced risk of ALL compared with the 677CC genotype in the overall population (odds ratio [OR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.61–0.92). The reduced risk was pronounced only among the Caucasian population (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.51–0.90), not the Asian (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.75–1.05). For the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism, no significant association with ALL susceptibility was observed in the pooled analyses. However, significantly increased ALL risk was found in childhood inthe comparison of 1298CA versus AA genotype. This study provides evidence that MTHFR polymorphisms may play animportant role in the development of ALL.

Keywords:

• MTHFR
• polymorphism
• leukemia
• meta-analysis

Acknowledgements

This study was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30571583 and 30872084), the PhD Programs Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (20060312002), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2006231), and the ‘Qinglan Project’ Foundation for the Young Academic Leader of Jiangsu Province (2006).

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