title: Association between Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR) Gene Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in an Iranian Population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The present study was aimed to examine the possible association between methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphisms and childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in a sample of Iranian population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 220 subjects including 100 children diagnosed with ALL and 120 healthy children participated in the case-control study. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of MTHFR were determined by ARMS-PCR or PCR-RFLP method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our investigation revealed that rs13306561 both TC and TC + CC genotypes decreased the risk of ALL compared to TT genotype (OR=0.32, 95%CI=0.15-0.68, p=0.002 and OR=0.35, 95%CI=0.17-0.70, p=0.003, respectively). In addition, the rs13306561 C allele decreased the risk of ALL in comparison with T allele (OR=0.42, 95% CI=0.22-0.78, P=0.005). MTHFR rs1801131 (A1298C) polymorphism showed that the AC heterozygous genotype decreased the risk of ALL in comparison with AA homozygous genotype (OR=0.43, 95%CI=0.21-0.90, p=0.037). Neither the overall Chi-square comparison of cases and control subjects (𝜒2=5.54, p=0.063) nor the logistic regression analysis showed significant association between C677T polymorphism and ALL (OR=1.25, 95% CI=0.69-2.23, p=0.552; CT vs. CC).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current investigation findings showed that MTHFR rs1801131 and rs13306561 polymorphisms decreased the risk of ALL in the population which has been studied. Further studies with larger sample sizes and different ethnicities are required to validate our findings.
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran; Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bahari
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashemi
authors.affiliation: Genetics of Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naderi
authors.affiliation: Genetics of Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taheri
keywords: Acute lymphocytic leukemia; MTHFR; Polymorphism