The Common Mutations C677T and A1298C in the Human Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Gene Are Associated with Hyperhomocysteinemia and Cardiovascular Disease in Hemodialysis Patients

Vol. 92, No. 1, 2002

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Original Paper

The Common Mutations C677T and A1298C in the Human Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Gene Are Associated with Hyperhomocysteinemia and Cardiovascular Disease in Hemodialysis Patients
Y.S. Haviv^b,c, V. Shpichinetsky^a, N. Goldschmidt^a, I. Abou Atta^a, A. Ben-Yehuda^a, G. Friedman^a

^aGeriatric Unit and
^bDepartment of Nephrology and Hypertension, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel;
^cDivision of Human Gene Therapy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Ala., USA

Address of Corresponding Author

Nephron 2002;92:120-126 (DOI: 10.1159/000064485)

Key Words

Homocysteine
Hemodialysis
Cardiovascular disease
Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase

Abstract

Background: Plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) level might be an important risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in dialysis patients. While both renal failure and mutations of the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene may result in hyperhomocysteinemia and CVD, the distinct roles of the thermolabile MTHFR mutation at nucleotide C677T and the more recently described mutation at nucleotide A1298C have not been evaluated concurrently in patients on hemodialysis. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 120 maintenance HD patients to determine the prevalence of MTHFR C677T and A1298C mutations and their relative association to hyperhomocysteinemia and CVD. Results: Both mutations, the C677T and the A1298C, were highly prevalent in HD patients with allele frequencies of 0.41 and 0.27, respectively. The prevalence of CVD in HD patients was 55% and its significant risk factors included, in descending order, hyperhomocysteinemia, MTHFR C677T mutation, low serum folate levels, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and double heterozygote state for both MTHFR mutations (677CT/1298AC). MTHFR A1298C mutation alone and gender were not associated with either hyperhomocysteinemia or increased CVD risk, but the HD patients with homozygotes 1298CC and wild alleles 677CC (677CC/1298CC) have significant increase of tHcy (37.7 ± 12) and high prevalence of CVD. Conclusions: Hyperhomocysteinemia, serum folate levels and both C677T and A1298C MTHFR mutations are associated with CVD in HD patients.

Author Contacts

G. Friedman
Kiryat Hadassah, POB 12000
IL-91120 Jerusalem (Israel)
Tel. +972 2 6777627/8, Fax +972 2 6413147
E-Mail gideonf@md2.huji.ac.il

Article Information

Supported in part by a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Health and the Ridgefield Foundation.

Accepted: November 14, 2001
Number of Print Pages : 7
Number of Figures : 1, Number of Tables : 3, Number of References : 33

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