Associations of plasma homocysteine level and MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism with white matter lesions in Chinese Han population / 国际脑血管病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objeetive To investigate the associations of plasma homocysteine (Hcy) level and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene C677T polymorphism with white matter lesion (WML) in a Chinese Han population.Methods A toal of 104 patients with WML and 74 controls were recruited.Hcy level and MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism were determined.The degree of severity of the WML was evaluated using a modified Scheltens scale.Results The plasma Hcy level (median and interquartile range,16.81 [11.33-18.92] μmol/L vs.11.40 [8.28-14.23] μmol/L;Z =5.415,P =0.001) and the proportion (85.6％ vs.54.1％;x2 =28.535,P ＜ 0.001) of patients with hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) in the WML group were significantly higher than those in the control group.However,there were no significant differences in the frequencies of C677T genotype (x2 =1.255,P =0.534) and allele (x2 =1.057,P =0.304).There are 89 patients with HHcy and 15 patient with normal Hcy in 104 patients with WML.The modified Scheltens scale score in the HHcy subgroup was higher that in the normal Hcy subgroup (8.06 ±5.61 vs.5.80 ±2.98;t =2.324,P=0.027).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio[OR] 1.090,95％ confidence interval [CI] 1.049-1.133;P=0.001),hypertension (OR 1.719,95％ CI 1.645-2.307;P ＜ 0.001),and HHcy (OR 1.128,95％ CI 1.044-1.219;P =0.002) were the independent risk factors for white matter lesions.Conclusions HHcy is an independent risk factor for WML,whereas the MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism is not associated with WML.