Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genotype association with the risk of follicular lymphoma

The metabolism of folate is essential in DNA synthesis, and polymorphisms of genes involved in such metabolism have been implicated in many types of cancer. Among these, the methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase gene (MTHFR) encodes an enzyme that converts folate to a methyl donor used for DNA methylation. We studied the association between the different genotypes of the two most common MTHFR polymorphisms, C677T and A1298C, and the risk of follicular lymphoma (FL). For this purpose, 55 previously diagnosed FL patients and 170 normal control subjects were examined using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. The frequency of the A1298C CC homozygous mutant genotype was significantly higher in patients with FL than in control subjects (OR = 3.51, 95% CI = 1.39-8.86, P = 0.008). No such association was found for the heterozygous A1298C AC genotype (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 0.55-2.12, P = 0.83). On the other hand, no significant association was found for either the C677T CT heterozygous genotype (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.42-1.51, P = 0.49) or the C677T TT homozygous mutant genotype (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.12-2.65, P = 0.46). The present findings add to the very few reports suggesting a link between the A1298C CC homozygous MTHFR genotype and a higher risk of developing FL, and the first such in a Jordanian population.