Association of Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism in breast cancer patients of Bihar: Case-control study

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent cancer in women globally and the main cause of cancer-related mortality. MTHFR C677T is a functional polymorphism in the genes encoding a one-carbon metabolism enzyme that affect folate metabolism and may be associated with breast cancer susceptibility. We have conducted a case-control study taking 100 cases of diagnosed breast cancer and 100 healthy control. PCR-RFLP technique was used to detect the genotype of C677T polymorphism in the study population.About 35% of cases had normal genotype(C677C), 49% had the genotype C677T & rest 16% had the genotype T677T for MTHFR. Among control the frequency of C677C genotype was 55% C677T was 40% & T677T was 5%. C677T & T677T MTHFR genotype were more common in case as compared to control [χ2 (2, N = 200) = 11.12, p = 0.004]. T allele frequency was significantly higher in case (40%) as compared to control (5%) [χ2 (1, N = 400) = 10.91, p = 0.001]. Cases with MTHFR 677TT genotype had a significantly higher risk of BC than 677CC individual [OR=1.64 (1.03 to 2.10)] and increasing T-allele was significant in BC [OR=1.07 (0.71 to 1.33)] (P for trend = 0.04).C677T of MTHFR gene has a strong correlation with breast cancer in the studied population and can be used as a prognostic marker for the development of breast cancer.