No Association of Folate- Related and Methionine Synthesis Genes Variant in the Development and Progression of Childhood ALL among North Indian Population

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most worldwide common type of childhood cancer. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase (MTR) are crucial enzymes in folate pathways. Folate availability is critical factor for DNA integrity, required for the transfer of methyl group in the biosynthesis of thymidilate.Procedure: In present study, we have conducted a case control study from north Indian states to correlate the effect of two SNPs of MTHFR (677C→T and 1298A→C) and MTR (2756A→G) and the risk of childhood ALL. One hundred and twenty five bone marrows and peripheral blood samples and 100 sex-age matched healthy controls were obtained and analyzed by PCR-RFLP method. Statistically, no significant differences were observed between patients and controls for different genotypes (p>0.05), also significant different on risk of ALL in individuals having genotype of MTHFR 677TT (OR=0.61, 95% CI=0.21-1.77) and MTHFR 1298CC (OR=0.56, 95% CI=0.18-1.68) was not observed. Statistically, the correlation of variants of MTR gene and risk of ALL was not observed. The difference in distribution of possible combined genotypes of MTHFR (677C→T, 1298A→C) and MTR (2756A→G) between patients and controls were statistically insignificant.