Rs4846049 Polymorphism at the 3′-UTR of MTHFR Gene: Association with Susceptibility to Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Background. Accumulating evidence has suggested the polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) were associated with susceptibility to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, the known conclusions of currently known polymorphic loci (677 C > T and 1298 A > C) remain controversial. This study was to investigate new genetic biomarkers for ALL by analyzing the MTHFR polymorphisms at the 3′-untranslated region, which is a location bound by miRNAs. Methods. Polymorphisms of rs4846049 (miR-555 binding) were assessed by PCR amplification and direct sequencing in 110 ALL patients and 105 healthy controls. The relative expression of MTHFR was detected by qRT-PCR. Results. Overall, genotype distribution or allele carrier frequencies were not significantly different between patients with ALL and healthy controls (P>0.05). Subgroup analysis results showed that T allele (OR = 0.134, 95% CI = 0.028–0.639; P=0.005) or genotypes with T allele (TT + GT) (OR = 0.133, 95% CI: 0.024–0.727; P=0.017) may be a protective factor for ALL susceptibility in patients with age >8 years. This conclusion was also true for the group only focusing on the precursor B-cell ALL patients. Furthermore, karyotype abnormality was more commonly observed in patients with the GG genotype (56.0%) compared to carriers of TT (0%) or GT (40.6%) genotypes, while c-myc break frequency was significantly higher in TT carriers (33%) than that of patients with GT (3.1%) or GG (0%) genotypes. PCR analysis showed patients carrying the GG genotype of rs4846049 exhibited the reduced mRNA expression of MTHFR. Conclusion. MTHFR rs4846049 polymorphism may be associated with increased risk of childhood with ALL and MTHFR mRNA expression.