Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Gene Polymorphism, Homocysteine And Coronary Heart Disease

Objective To investigate whether hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor associated with coronary heart disease(CHD)and to detect the association of MTHFR polymorphism with CHD.Methods In 80 patients with CHD and 70 control subjects without CHD, the plasma HCY was measured by fluorescence polarization immunoassay. The MTHFR polymorphism was determined by PCR-RELP.Results The plasma HCY level was significantly higher in CHD cases than in control〔(17.16±11.03μmol/l)vs(12.27±7.02μmol/l),P<0.01〕.There were three kinds of genotype : homozygous mutation(TT), heterozygous mutation(TC), wild-type(CC). There was no significant difference in the frequencies of genotype and alleles between two groups (χ2=3.213,P >0.05;χ2=1.836,P >0.05). The plasma HCY level in CHD and control subjects with TT genotype was significantly higher than that with CT or CC genotype .Logistic-regression analysis indicated that HCY was an independent risk factors for CHD. The odds ratios (OR)of hyperhomocysteinemia for CHD was 3.140(95% confidence interval, 1.431 to 6.889).Conclusions Hyperhomocysteinemia may be an independent risk factor for CHD. MTHFR C677T genotype may be an important mechanism of hyperhomocysteinemia, but MTHFR mutation is not related with CHD.