Comprehensive analysis of Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T in younger acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients: A single-center experience

Context Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene polymorphisms, mainly the C677T, have been implicated as risk factors for several cancers as the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In addition, a potential effect of such variant on the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) has been reported. Objective In this study, we evaluated the impact of the C677T variant of MTHFR on MTX-related toxicity in ALL patients from Tunisia; to provide new insights for a personalized therapy based on the human genotype. Materials and methods Genotyping was carried out with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) on blood samples from a total of 35 younger patients; suffering from ALL. Results In the ALL patients, the MTHFR 677CT genotype confers a greater risk of toxicity with 1.3 times as relative risk mainly the hepatic toxicity when compared with MTHFR 677CC. Conclusion Our findings suggest that C677T polymorphism of MTHFR seems to be a good marker for MTX-related toxicity in ALL.