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Association of Methylenetetrahydrafolate Reductase Gene Polymorphism (MTHFR) in Patients with Gallbladder Cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a key enzyme in folate metabolism and plays a major role in DNA methylation. There are two popular MTHFR polymorphisms known as C677T and A1298C which are found to be involved in folate metabolism and lowering the enzyme activity, thus may be linked with cancer development. This study aims to look at the association of these polymorphisms in gallbladder cancer.

Methods

Thirty patients each with gallbladder cancer, cholelithiasis, and normal gallbladder were genotyped for the above-given polymorphisms by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method.

Results

C677T MTHFR polymorphism was not associated (χ 2 = 2.44, p = 0.85) with an increased likelihood of having gallbladder cancer. A1298C was significantly associated (χ 2 = 28.87, p < 0.001) with risk of developing gallbladder cancer. A1298C was significantly correlated with grade (r = 0.337, p < 0.001) and histopathology (r = 0.446, p < 0.001).

Conclusion

This study proposed that MTHFR A1298C polymorphism may be associated with risk of developing gallbladder cancer, and there is no association between C677T polymorphism and gallbladder cancer.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the patients and healthy volunteers who agreed to participate in the study.

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vijay Kumar Shukla.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding

This study was funded by Departmental Research Grant.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Dixit, R., Singh, G., Pandey, M. et al. Association of Methylenetetrahydrafolate Reductase Gene Polymorphism (MTHFR) in Patients with Gallbladder Cancer. J Gastrointest Canc 47, 55–60 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-015-9794-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12029-015-9794-0

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