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Short Communications |
Departments of Epidemiology [H. S., M. R. S., L. W., Q. W.] and Thoracic and Head and Neck Medical Oncology [W. K. H.], The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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MTHFR3 is one of the enzymes involved in folate metabolism (6) . MTHFR plays a central role in the provision of methyl groups by reducing 5,10-methylene-tetrahydrofolate to 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate, the dominant circulating form of folate that serves as a substrate for the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine with subsequent production of S-adenosylmethionine, the universal donor of methyl, required for DNA methylation (7) . DNA methylation has been suggested as one of the molecular mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated (8) . For instance, hypomethylation is associated with activation of oncogenes, and promoter hypermethylation is associated with loss of function of tumor suppressor genes (9) . A recent study (10) found that individuals homozygous for the C677T polymorphism have undermethylated genomic DNA in their peripheral leukocytes, a characteristic of many types of cancer. MTHFR is also involved in the production of dTMP via thymidylate synthase and purine synthesis. Therefore, MTHFR is also thought to play a role in the provision of nucleotides essential for DNA synthesis and repair (11) , and we have demonstrated previously (12) in a subset of this study population that reduced DNA repair of tobacco-induced DNA damage is implicated in the etiology of lung cancer.
MTHFR is highly polymorphic in the general population. Two common polymorphisms, C677T and A1298C, have been identified (13
, 14) . The nucleotide 677 polymorphism results in an alanine to valine (C
T) substitution (13)
. Individuals with the variant 677TT genotype have about 30% of the in vitro MTHFR enzyme activity of those with the 677CC wild-type genotype, whereas heterozygotes (677CT) have about 65% of normal enzyme activity (15)
. Up to 15% of the population is homozygous 677TT for the variant, which is associated with higher plasma homocysteine levels and reduced plasma folate levels (16)
. The second common MTHFR polymorphism, a glutamate to alanine (A
C) change at position 1298, also influences the specific activity of the enzyme, homocysteine levels, and plasma folate concentration but to a lesser extent than the C677T polymorphism does (14)
.
Previous studies (17) of colorectal cancer reported a significantly decreased risk of colorectal cancer associated with the 677TT genotype that was not observed among those with low folate intakes or serum levels. Recently, another study (18) reported that individuals with the MTHFR 677TT, 1298AC, and 1298CC genotypes have reduced risk of adult acute lymphocytic leukemia. However, the association between these two common MTHFR polymorphisms and the risk of lung cancer has not been examined. Because the MTHFR polymorphisms reduce enzyme activity and low dietary intake of folate is associated with increased risk of lung cancer, we hypothesized that the MTHFR polymorphisms are associated with risk of lung cancer. We tested this hypothesis by genotyping our specimens from a non-population-based case-control study of lung cancer for these two MTHFR polymorphisms.
| Materials and Methods |
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MTHFR Genotyping.
The leukocyte cell pellet obtained from the 200-µl buffy coat by centrifugation of 1 ml of whole blood was used for DNA extraction. The Qiagen DNA Blood Mini Kit (Qiagen, Inc., Valencia, CA) was used according to the manufacturers instructions to obtain genomic DNA. The DNA purity and concentration were determined by spectrophotometric measurement of absorbance at 260 and 280 nm.
The MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms were determined by using the primers and PCR-RFLP method described previously (15
, 20) . The amplified fragments targeted the sites of polymorphisms: the 198-bp fragment for MTHFR C677T containing the C
T bp substitution at nucleotide 677 that creates a HinfI restriction site and the 163-bp fragment for MTHFR A1298C containing the A
C substitution at nucleotide 1298 that abolishes an MboII restriction site. The PCRs were performed by using a PTC-200 DNA Engine (Peltier Thermal Cycler; MJ Research Inc., Watertown, MA). Therefore, HinfI and MboII (New England BioLabs, Beverly, MA) were used to detect the C677T and A1298C polymorphisms, respectively. The digestion products were visualized with ethidium bromide after electrophoresis on 3% NuSieve 3:1 agarose gels (FMC BioProducts, Rockland, ME) for the C677T polymorphism and on 4% Metaphor gels (FMC BioProducts) for the A1298C polymorphism and were photographed with Polaroid film under UV light. 677CC wild-type homozygotes were identified by the presence of only a 198-bp fragment. 677CT heterozygotes were identified by 198-, 175-, and 23-bp fragments, and 677TT homozygotes were identified by 175- and 23-bp fragments. 1298AA wild-type homozygotes produce five fragments of 56, 31, 30, 28, and 18 bp. The 1298AC heterozygotes produce six fragments of 84, 56, 31, 30, 28, and 18 bp, and the 1298CC homozygous variants produce four fragments of 84, 31, 30, and 18 bp. Genotyping was performed on batches of equal numbers of case and control subjects, and all of the laboratory personnel were blinded as to case and control status. About 10% of the samples were randomly genotyped again, and the reproducibility was 100%.
Statistical Analysis.
Differences in select demographic variables, smoking, alcohol consumption, and dietary folate intake between cases and controls were evaluated by the
2 and Student t tests. The associations between lung cancer and MTHFR genotypes were estimated by computing the ORs and their 95% CIs from both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Stratification analysis was used to study subgroups of age, sex, dietary folate intake, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Logistic regression was also used to assess possible interactions between MTHFR genotypes and folate intake and other select risk factors of lung cancer. Those who had smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes were defined as never-smokers. Those who had quit smoking for more than 1 year previously were considered former smokers, and the rest were considered current smokers. Those who drank alcoholic beverages less than once a week for the previous years were defined as nondrinkers. Those who had been drinkers but had quit drinking more than 1 year previously were called former drinkers, and the rest were called current drinkers. All of the statistical analyses were performed with Statistical Analysis System software (v.6.12; SAS Institute, Cary, NC).
| Results |
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2 test, P = 0.90 for the C677T polymorphism and P = 0.43 for the A1298C polymorphism). We observed identical 677T allele and 677TT genotype frequencies of 0.33 and 0.10, respectively, in the case and control groups. The frequencies of the 1298C allele and 1298CC genotype were 0.30 and 0.07, respectively, in controls, which were also very similar to the values in cases (0.30 and 0.08, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences in genotype frequencies between cases and controls (P = 0.99 for C677T and 0.93 for A1298C). No subjects had more than two variant alleles, i.e., individuals homozygous for the variant allele at one site were always homozygous wild type at the other site (677TT/1298AA or 1298CC/677CC), suggesting that having more than two mutations may be embryonically lethal.
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| Discussion |
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To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to examine the association between the MTHFR gene polymorphisms and risk of lung cancer. Because there were more alcohol users among the controls, this may lead to underestimation of the risk associated with low intake of folate and the polymorphisms studied, because alcohol may reduce the bioavailability of folate in vivo (17) . However, we have included a large number of subjects in this study but found no evidence of an association between the MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms and risk of lung cancer in the multivariate analysis. Nor did we observe a significant interaction between the MTHFR polymorphisms and dietary folate intake. Therefore, the data do not support the hypothesis that MTHFR C677T and A1298C genotypes are associated with risk of lung cancer.
Early reports suggested that the MTHFR 677TT genotype appeared to protect against colorectal cancer (17) and acute lymphocytic leukemia (18) . One study reported an approximately 50% reduction in colorectal cancer risk in both men and women with the 677TT genotype compared with persons with the 677CC wild-type genotype (17) . This protection was not evident for those who had low blood folate levels or low dietary folate intake. However, more recent studies (23 , 24) suggested that the 677TT genotype was a risk factor for colorectal adenoma in subjects who reported low dietary folate intake, although the overall frequencies of the 677TT genotype were very similar in colorectal adenoma cases and controls (10 versus 11%, respectively). There was a lack of association between the 677TT genotype and colorectal hyperplastic polyps (21) and colorectal adenomas (25) . Other studies have implicated the 677TT genotype in increased risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (26) and endometrial cancer (27) .
However, few studies have investigated these two polymorphisms simultaneously. Only one evaluated the MTHFR A1298C polymorphism and risk of cancer (18) . Individuals with the MTHFR 677TT, 1298AC, and 1298CC genotypes were found to have a decreased risk of adult acute lymphocytic leukemia but not acute myeloid leukemia. The results suggested that folate inadequacy may play a key role in the development of acute lymphocytic leukemia.
In our study reported here, the frequencies of the variant MTHFR 677TT genotype and 677T allele were 0.10 and 0.33, respectively, and those of the MTHFR 1298CC genotype and 1298C allele were 0.07 and 0.30, respectively, which were consistent with those reported for the control subjects in previous studies in the United States. Skibola et al. (18) reported genotype and allele frequencies of 0.12 and 0.29 for the MTHFR 677TT genotype and 677T allele, respectively, and 0.11 and 0.33 for the MTHFR 1298CC genotype and 1298C allele, respectively, in 369 Caucasian control subjects. Recently, Ulrich et al. (21 , 23) reported genotype and allele frequencies of 0.11 and 0.32 for the MTHFR 677TT genotype and 677T allele, respectively, in 645 control subjects (97% were whites). In addition, we observed that individuals homozygous for the mutation at one site were always homozygous wild type at the other site, which validated the results of disequilibrium between these two polymorphisms from a report (28) with a relatively small sample size of Caucasians.
We noted that the mean calorie-adjusted folate intake from diet was statistically significantly lower in lung cancer cases than in controls. Although the estimates of dietary folate intake were derived from questionnaire data that may not represent the actual amount of intake, the lower mean folate intake from diet in the cases than in the controls is consistent with a protective effect of folate. The lack of association between the MTHFR C677T and A1298C genotypes and risk of lung cancer suggests that the MTHFR variant genotype did not have an effect on lung cancer or that other molecular mechanisms such as DNA damage and repair may play a major role in the etiology of lung cancer in this study population (12) .
In conclusion, our study does not provide evidence for associations between the MTHFR C677T and A1298C variant genotypes and risk of lung cancer, with and without dietary folate intake, in this study population. Because of the design of the study and crude measurement for dietary folate intake, these results may not be generalizable to the general population. A large prospective study is needed to verify our findings. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that other as yet unidentified alterations in genes involved in folate metabolism, DNA methylation, and DNA repair influence the risk of developing lung cancer. Indeed, suboptimal DNA repair capacity is associated with increased risk of lung cancer (12) . It is likely that insufficient dietary folate intake may lead to lung cancer by influencing the DNA repair pathway. We are currently testing this hypothesis and investigating the association between dietary folate intake and DNA repair capacity and their combined effect on risk of lung cancer.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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1 Supported by NIH Grants CA 55769 and CA 86390 (to M. R. S.), CA 68437 (to W. K. H.), CA 70334 and CA 74851 (to Q. W.), and CA 16672 to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and by funds collected pursuant to the Comprehensive Tobacco Settlement of 1998 and appropriated by the 76th Legislature to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Epidemiology, Box 189, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030. Phone: (713) 792-3020; Fax: (713) 792-0807; E-mail: qwei{at}mail.mdanderdon.org ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: MTHFR, 5,10-methylene-tetrahydrofolate reductase; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. ![]()
Received 10/20/00; revised 1/25/01; accepted 1/26/01.
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